


Hunted

by D_g_A



Category: Big Bang (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, High School, Horror, M/M, Monsters, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-13
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2017-11-25 21:00:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 46,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D_g_A/pseuds/D_g_A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm guessing that everybody dreamt of being a supernatural being when they were kids. You imagined you could fly, travel at high speed, being able to see in the dark, be invisible... Those kind of things. And I get that it looks very fun when you are young. The only things you think of are the fun parts of being something that's not human, not the bad things. And why should you?  Even though you are a kid, you somehow know that it's only in your mind and that you'll never be a weird creature, right? Well, you can't be more wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The beginning

I'm guessing that everybody dreamt of being a supernatural being when they were kids. You imagined you could fly, travel at high speed, being able to see in the dark, be invisible... Those kind of things. And I get that it looks very fun when you are young. The only things you think of are the fun parts of being something that's not human, not the bad things. And why should you? Even though you are a kid, you somehow know that it's only in your mind and that you'll never be a weird creature, right? Well, you can't be more wrong.

 

But I'm being rude here, let me introduce myself first. My name is Choi Seunghyun and I'm 18. I'm in my last year of high school. Now, if you'd look at me, you'd think I'm just a normal teenager... Maybe I look like I'd better fit in the mafia than other teenagers would, but that would be it. And sure, I go to school like any other kid, study like any other kid, sit in front of my computer more than necessary, just like any other kid... only I'm not 'any other' kid.

 

I first noticed I wasn't what you'd call normal when I was 13. It was during lunch break, at my school. I have to tell you that I was a bit chubby then and the perfect victim for bullies of course. I the beginning there was name calling. Not that bad if you just ignore it, I thought. I was also convinced they'd stop after a while since they didn't get any reaction. But it only got worse.

 

After a while, they 'improved' their bully techniques. For example, I'd find my PE clothes in the toilet. My lunch mysteriously disappeared, stuff like that. The teachers knew, but they decided to ignore it. My parents also knew but told me to continue to ignore the bullies, and assured me that they would eventually stop because it would get boring. But ignoring them had the opposite effect. That one day, during lunch break, I found myself trapped between the wall in the bathroom and about 7 bullies.

 

"Hey chubby, shouldn't you be eating right now? If you don't watch out, you'll get thin!" I remember the tallest and their leader practically yell at me. Don't ask me what his name was, I made sure I don't remember. As a fact, I don't remember any of their names. Of course the rest of them started laughing at his 'joke' as soon as he said it. I turned around and started walking towards the bathroom's exit, or at least I tried. But as soon as they figured out my plan, the leader pushed me back against the sink.

"Where do you think you're going?" He said holding me up by the collar of my uniform. It was the first time that they got physical, ever. I remember that at that moment alarms went off in my head.

 

"Could you let go of me, please?" I said, or rather asked not to infuriate him. His eyes widened, he probably didn't see it coming that I would stand up (sort of) to him. But after a few seconds he's laughing so hard he's almost crying.

 

"Hahaha, wait it can talk hahah! Let go of you? Now why would we do that?" By the end of him talking, he wasn't laughing anymore; he was glaring at me and I started to get scared. I knew that at that time I wasn't able to defend myself, certainly not against 7 fit bullies that who were approximately 3 years older than me.

"So chubby, I've got the feeling that you've ignored us for quite a while. That makes me sad... And angry, don't you want to be our friends?" The other were laughing again. Only the leader wasn't laughing, he just came closer.

"Or are you so asocial? See, I don't think I ever saw you with a friend... Oh but that's right, you don't have any." That sentence somehow got to me, and I could feel my eyes tearing up because he was right. The only friend I had moved away two years ago, since then I was always sitting alone in school, not talking to anyone... And I hated it.

"Aw, is the little baby going to cry?" The laughter just increased as I felt the first tear rolling over my cheeks. I was really done with this, the bullying, being alone. I just wanted to go home, lie in my bed, fall asleep and then wake up into another reality.

"Cry all you want chubby, but you're not gonna leave this place until we're done with you."

 

"Please stop." I tried, voice cracking, barely hearable over their laughter. But his grip on my collar only got tighter.

 

"Listen, we're not going to stop and for the record, nobody is going to stop us either because nobody cares about you. So stop whining, if you're lucky, you'll survive, haha!" He raised his fist ready to punch me in the face.

 

And suddenly, something snapped in me. And in a flash everything in the room goes black except the bullies. I felt so angry and it was like I wasn't myself anymore. The bullies' features disappears and instead could hear their hearts beating and see their blood running through their veins. And for some reason I wanted to taste that blood. But then I blacked out, just like that.

 

When I woke up, I was still in the bathroom, only lying on the floor now. I remember that my head hurt a lot when I tried to get up. I looked around and saw police men, doctors and other people that you don't want to see when you just wake up. It took me a while to see clearly, but when I did I noticed that the room was painted in red. Blood, blood everywhere. I'm sure I even saw some torn off limbs lying across the room together with clothes that were soaked in blood and walls that were covered in claw-like shapes. I wasn't able to really think about it because a doctor came over while yelling at the other people.

 

"Hey, he's awake!" He sat next to me and started to exanimate me.

"Can you tell me your name?" He asked, probably to check my mental health or something.

 

"Seunghyun..." I said. In the meantime, a cop also joined the doctor to sit next to me. He took out a notepad and a pen and waved his hand in front of my face, trying to get my attention.

 

"Boy, can you tell me what happened here?" He asked. I looked around again.

 

"I...I don't know..."

 

~~~

 

I was transported to the hospital even though I told them that I was fine. Some doctors preformed test on me when I arrived but as soon as they knew that I was indeed alright, they put me in a separate room and left. But my solitary was short-lived. The door of my room opened and I saw doctors waking in together with my parents. My mother obviously had been crying and my dad looked disappointed. I remember that they were accompanied by a couple of guys wearing black suites with strange neon green badges that seemed to glow. One of the doctors stood at the end of my bed.

 

"Seunghyun, you probably have some questions about what has happened so I'm going to be honest with you. You and 7 seniors didn't return to your classrooms after lunch break was over. They started looking for you and found you in that bathroom. They've told me that it looked like a bomb went off in there. The weird thing however is that you are the only one that got out... Whole... Could you tell us what happened exactly?" I looked at the doctor and then at my parents. I told them the truth. I told them about the bullying and what was about to happen. The only thing I didn't tell them was what happened after I saw that fist coming at me, I just told them that I blacked out.

 

"Doctor... What happened to the b... the others?" I asked and he opened his mouth only to shut it back right away. About a minute later he opened his mouth again.

 

"Listen, I want you to stay calm okay... We brought four of them immediately over to this hospital, they were in pretty bad shape, but out of the danger zone now..." I didn't even want to ask, but needed to know.

 

"And... The other three?" The doctor put one of his hands on my shoulder and looked at me with a sympathetic face.

 

"I'm sorry kid, but they didn't make it..."

 

~~~

 

I was allowed to leave the hospital later that day. The doctor told me that I needed to go to court and tell my story again. And indeed, a couple of weeks later I found myself sitting in a chair, stared at by a lot of people, included those men with their weird badges. I told them the story just like I told the doctor.

 

In the end, the official explanation was that there was a wild animal attack. I could be possible since the school was located in the middle of a forest. The animal attacked the bullies and would've attacked me too, but it probably got interpreted before it could attack me. End of disaster.

 

But I knew that wasn't what happened there. However I look at it, the only explanation I can think of is that I did this. And I don't know how or why, but so did my parents, the doctors, the men in the suits, my teachers... everyone involved... I could see it in their eyes as they looked at me with fear. Life at home got almost unbearable, so I tended to spend my free days out of the house, walking around the city. That, together with stress, probably were the reasons I lost a lot of weight and looked like a fit teenager in a short period of time.

 

When I returned back to school a months later (due to the renovation), I noticed that the teachers looked at me with disgust. It got so bad that some days after my return, the principal and my parents concluded that it was better for everyone if I'd go to another school, preferably in another city as well. And so I found myself living in Seoul and going to a brand new school. And when my first school day arrived, I was nervous. Memories of my time at the other school popped up in my mind.

 

But it wasn't that bad, the teacher looked like he actually cared and my new classmates welcomed me with smiles on their faces.

 

"Everyone, this is Seunghyun. He's new so be kind to him and help him out okay? He missed some school time due to complications, so he's a year older than you. Now, who wants to give him a seat next to you?" I barely looked up but to my surprise, I saw a couple of girls put up their hands while smiling. To say I was shocked at that time is an understatement. The teacher apparently saw that I was uncomfortable with the entire situation.

"Ah, I'll rescue from all these girls that think you're cute. Why don't you sit next to Daesung over there?" When I looked at where his finger was pointed, I saw a cute boy in the back, smiling brightly at me. I walked over and sat next to him. He turned around, still smiling.

 

"Hi hyung, my name is Daesung, but you can call me Dae."

 

"H-hyung?" I asked.

 

"Uhu, you're older... Let's be friends, okay?"

 

"Uh... Y-yeah."


	2. What in the world?

"Hi hyung, my name is Daesung, but you can call me Dae."

 

"H-hyung?" I asked.

 

"Uhu, you're older... Let's be friends, okay?"

 

"Uh... Y-yeah."

 

 

Daesung and I did become friends, best friends as a matter of fact. We are always sitting next to each other in class, spending time together outside of the school,... It's not like I don't get along with the rest of the class. I'm pretty sure that a lot of girls have a slight crush on me, or at least that's what Daesung told me.

 

"Dae, why are all those girls looking at me like I'm their favourite food?" I remember asking him.

 

"Hyung, did you look at yourself in a mirror lately? You're the most handsome guy in the entire school!" Daesung said in disbelieve.

 

"Me, handsome? Yeah right, look at me."

 

"I am looking... Hyung, really? You look great, sharp cheekbones and killer eyes. Not to mention the rest of your body! Even guys are jealous of you! You're not... Chubby anymore, you're... practically perfect!" Daesung said smiling. Yeah, I told him what happened, I told him everything... Well, I had to. Almost a year after we met.

 

It was my birthday. And no, I didn't tell anyone it was my birthday that day, so I just went to school like any other day. I really didn't trust anybody yet, not one hundred percent anyway and I didn't want to bother anyone with the fact that it was my birthday, thus I kept it quiet. I was on the brink of leaving the school building, heading back home, when Daesung asked me if I had some time to help him with something. I followed him back to our classroom and when he opened the door, the lights went on and I saw a birthday cake, surrounded by a couple of presents. I was so stunned that I didn't see Daesung coming. He jumped in front of me, screaming: "Surprise! Happy birthday!!"

 

The fact that I was shocked must have been written all over my face because Daesung put his hand on my shoulder and smiled at me. He told me that the teacher saw my birth date in my record and informed the rest of the class. They decided to throw in a surprise party for me. The rest would be there soon, but they still had clean-up duty.

 

I tried to remain strong. Nobody did anything like this for me before. But then he started to sing and I could feel tears stinging, threatening to spill over. So I ran out of the classroom, searching for a place to hide.

Ironically enough, I hid myself in a stall in the bathroom. At that time, I was already crying. I tried to muffle the sounds escaping from my mouth, in case he'd come after me.

After a few moments, I thought he didn't or he wasn't able to find me. But then I heard the door of the lavatory open.

 

"Hyung are you in here?" I didn't make any sounds, or I don't think I did. But he knew I was in there for some reason. I could hear his footsteps getting closer and then, a knock.

"Are you alright? Can... Can I come in? Please?" I didn't answer him, he just opened the door. When I looked up, I could see his sympathetic face. I tried to cover up mine, because I didn't want him to see me crying. He crouched in front of me and took my hand away from my face and into his.

"Why are you crying? Did I... Did I do something wrong?" He said softly, face filled with what I can describe as panic. I shook my head.

"Then what is it?"

 

I told him everything. I told him about being chubby. I told him about the fact that I never had friends, I told him about the bullies and what happened. I even told him the entire story, not the one I told the police and my parents. And he just... Accepted it. He didn't judge me, didn't get angry at me, no. He smiled at me and said he understood. I couldn't believe he would simple believe me. From that day on, we became inseparable. 

 

+++

 

For a couple of years, everything went smooth. I made friends with my entire class, even went out with a couple of girls (although I have to admit something's off, because every guy tells me it's the best and I really don't get why). I got good grades, which made my relationship with my parents better again. It wasn't like it was before 'that' happened, but at least they talked to me again.

 

But somewhere in my head, I knew that it wouldn't last. Not that anything happened again at that time, but I noticed I lost my appetite. I ate less and less without feeling hungry. The weird thing was that I didn't lose any weight doing so. So I got curious and decided not to eat until I got hungry, see how long it would take... After six days of not eating, I was still not hungry. So I just continued without food. My weight was stable, I didn't feel weak at all. And yes, at that time I told Daesung about it. I told him I began to worry it had anything to do with the 'incident'. He told me not to jump ahead of things and go and see a doctor. But seeing a doctor was the last thing I wanted to do. He'd just tell me I had anorexia and he'd tell my parents, the school, my friends would disappear... Daesung agreed with me after a day that it would indeed be a bad idea to see a doctor.

 

+++

 

A couple of days later, I began to feel... strange. It was like my blood pressure was way too high, only it wasn't. My blood seemed to go through my body at 10 times its normal speed. My hands became ice cold as well as my feet. That went on for a few days and then it just became worse. I had to wear sunglasses to go outside, the sunshine was too bright. Even the classroom's lights hurt my eyes. When a classmate laughed it was like sirens went off. My head felt like it could explode any moment. Daesung, of course, noticed my pain.

 

"Hyung, you look awfully pale, maybe it's time to actually eat something." He could be right and I agreed to join him for lunch. That was the biggest mistake I could make. The moment the food entered my stomach, I felt like I was going to puke. I ran towards the toilet, leaving behind a confused Daesung. On the way over, the nausea made place for a familiar feeling. Everything went black except for the people walking in the corridor. I could see their veins again, hear their heartbeat, just like I could back then. Alarm bells went off in my head that time. I needed to get away from all those people or I might attack them again. instead of blacking out, like I did before, the darkness made place for a negative view of reality. The corridor lamps' light were black. On the other hand, the shadows of the lockers were white. I could see the environment again, but the people still looked like only a bundle of veins.

 

When I found an empty classroom, I sped up, running into that room. I felt like I was going to collapse any moment so I steadied myself against the wall furthest away from the door. I closed my eyes and tried to control my breathing to calm down. After a few seconds I opened my eyes again. I hoped that everything would be back to normal, but the wall was still black while it should've been white.

 

I heard the door behind me open. There was no need to look up to know who it was. In my mind I noted that I needed to start locking doors behind me.

 

"Hyung? Why are you here? Do you feel alright?" I didn't want to hurt him so I didn't gave him the time to come over to the other side of the room. I just closed my eyes and ran out of the room, knocking Daesung over in the progress. I definitely didn't want to do that, but I don't want to hurt him either. Besides, it'd be best if he was mad at me for a while so he wouldn't come after me again. But knowing Daesung, he'd rather be worried than angry. I ran straight home, trying to avoid busy streets.

 

Entering my house, I remembered that my parents were on a holiday trip for an entire week. I climbed up the stairs and walked into my room. The only thing on my mind was to get into my bed and sleep until everything was over. But I never made it to my bed. Suddenly I was on the ground screaming in pain. It felt like I was being stabbed. I tried to move away, reaching for my phone to call 911, but I didn't make it.

 

I woke up some time later. I figured out I blacked out just like I did that time. I opened my eyes, sat up and looked around. Everything looked normal again. The amount of light coming from the window wasn't a lot so I got up and walked over there. As I looked outside, I noticed the sun has gone down recently. I saw a few people walking on the streets and they looked normal also just as my vision and hearing were. My body however, felt different. I turned away from the window and walked towards my mirror hanging on the wall.

 

What I saw wasn't what I expected to see however. My skin looked as white as a corpse's. My eyes were bright blue and seemed to glow a little bit, even my featured seemed sharper. I opened my mouth in amazement and I saw that my teeth changed to fangs! Fangs, as in, you-know-fangs! I put up my hand to touch them, but I stop as I see my fingernails were sharper too.

 

I backed away from the mirror and sat on my bed. Trying to come up with some reasonable answers for all of this. But I couldn't find any.

 

+++

I stayed away from school a couple of days. In the meanwhile I searched for some answers on the internet, but I couldn't find anything. I also slept alot, hoping that when I'd get up, I was back to normal again. But that wasn't the case. I figured out how to switch back to a normal look and reversed. But I still had no clue who or what I was.

 

A day later, I heard a knock on my front door. There was only one person who knew where I lived and I didn't want to worry (or face) Daesung now. So yeah, I ignored the knocking on my front door. It stopped after a while, Daesung probably gave up, I thought. But that was wishful thinking. My bedroom door suddenly opened and there was Daesung, looking worried and slightly angy.

 

"Hyung, why didn't you open the front door!!!?" He asked. Well it was more a demand than a question.

 

"H-how did you get it?!?"

 

"The door was unlocked." Come to think of it, I really sucked at remembering to lock up doors.

"Hyung, are you all right? What happened!?"

 

"I-I don't know... I came home and just fainted...A-And wh-when I woke up I...I... was different..."

 

"Different? Different how?" He asked me, clearly confused.

 

"I'll show you, but... Please, don't freak out, okay?" He nodded and I changed. Eyes bright blue, skin snow-white.

 

"Woah!!" He screamed and just stared at my with wide eyes, and kept staring.

 

"Okay, say something." But as my mouth opened he noticed my fangs.

 

"Hyung, y-your teeth.."

 

"Yeah I know I have fangs. My nails are also pointy, I'm as cold as ice and I have a heartbeat that's below 20 bpm..." I stated.

 

"No way!"

 

"Yes way, come over here and see for yourself." He came over and I unbuttoned my shirt slightly, grabbed his hand and put it on my chest, just above my heart. His hand was pleasantly warm against my cold skin. I really enjoyed the feeling. When I looked up from his hand to his face, I noticed there was a small blush visible on his cheeks. It made me blush as well. We stayed like this for a while until Daesung spoke again.

 

"Your heartbeat is indeed very slow. Aren't you freezing?" He whispered somewhat worried.

 

"No, I don't feel cold at all... I just feel... normal" I said. He stared me right in the eyes which made me uncomfortable.

"What?"

 

"Oh nothing. Hyung's eyes are normally very intriguing already, but now... it's like... I don't know, you can see what's on my mind, or something like that."

 

"I can't, besides the fact that they're blue, nothing has changed..." Silence again.

 

"Hyung,... Can I take a look at your fangs... without being eaten?" Okay, I didn't expect that. I took a step back.

 

"What?! Why would you think I'd eat you??"

 

"Because you look like a vampire..."

 

"A VAM- I AM DEFINITELY NOT A VAMPIRE!!!" I yelled.

 

"But you look like one..." He said in a quiet voice and I calmed down again.

 

"Dae, vampires don't exist!"

 

"I know, but I'm also sure that people with such blue eyes don't exist either..." I had to admit he had a point there.

 

"True, but I'm sure I'm not a vampire. I spent my day sitting in the sunshine on my bed..." He looked pensive for a moment.

 

"What about your vision, can you see better in the night? Do you hear better? Things like that?"

 

"No, it's all normal. I'm just a bit stronger than I was before, but nothing out of the ordinary."

 

"Okay, maybe you're not a vampire. Then... What about the food? Are you still not hungry?" He asked.

 

"I didn't eat anything and I don't feel the need to. I'm just not hungry."

 

"What about blood, does it seem, I don't know, more appealing to you now?"

 

"I... I don't know, I don't think so..."

 

"We should find out... Hyung... I want you to bite me..."

 

"W-WHAT, DAE-"

 

"Hyung, please, I know you don't want to, but we'll have to get out of the house eventually and we need to know so, please?" He looked at me with pleading eyes.

 

"Dae, no... What if I am a vampire and... and..." My voice died.

 

"Hurt me? Hyung, you won't... I trust you." He looked at me, smiling but with determination visible in his eyes.

"please?" And I nodded. He smiled again, walked over to the nearest wall, leaned against it and tilted his head sideways, showing his neck.

 

"Why the neck?" I asked as I walked over, stopping right in front of him, our bodies almost touching.

 

"Because... I don't know... It seems right?" He whispered, still smiling. I leaned in, my in between his neck and his shoulder. I had no Idea what I was doing, so I gently rested my fangs against his soft skin. I could feel him shiver slightly and he put his hands on my back. When he exhaled, I bit down smoothly, trying not to hurt him too much.

"Aah-" He cried slightly in pain. The taste of blood was just as it was before, metallic. And I wanted to back out since it wasn't any different. But then an unknown feeling filled my veins. I felt warm, complete. Not hungry or anything, just warm. The feeling just intensified and I felt the need to bite down harder. So I did.

"Aah S-Seunghyun!"

 

The fact that he said my name and the fact that he didn't scream in pain but moaned, turned me on for some reason. I closed the small distance between our body and put one of my hands in his hair. And although he was moaning before, I thought that by now he would push me away. But instead, he just gripped my back harder.

"M-more..." My other hand gripped his side and my body pushed him even further against the wall. Daesung on the other hand jumped up and put his legs around my waist. By that time I was pretty sure my body gave away how turned on I really was. In the back of my mind I probably noticed that the other person was Daesung, my best friend and a guy. But it would also explain why I didn't like dating girls and frankly, at that moment, I couldn't care less.

 

Some seconds later I felt something poking me back, confirming Daesung felt the same, and I just lost it. I released my mouth from his neck and kissed him deeply. He gripped my neck even harder and kissed back while moving his body against mine. It felt so good, and we continued until I had to end the kiss to breathe.

"Dae..." I moaned. I licked his neck and he screamed my name and came, which send me over the edge as well.

 

I tried to stay on my feet as I catch my breath, since I was holding us both up, but I failed and we both slid down the wall. I looked at him. His chest heaved and he looked back at me with half-closed eyes while biting his lip.

 

"Dae..."


	3. From past to present

"Dae..."

 

The moment I said his name, my vision went black and to be honest, it felt like I was floating. I moved or at least I think I did, but there was nothing but darkness, just like that time. Afraid I would hurt Daesung, I tried to scream, but not a sound escaped my mouth. It was like I was trapped into an endless void. I felt so helpless and by that time I was convinced it was already too late so I'm pretty sure I started crying also.

 

But then, a sound reached my ears. A soft noise. I tried to listen carefully and I noticed that the sound grew louder gradually. After I while I could make out Daesung's voice. The feeling of hope filled my veins. I tried to scream back but my vocal cords decided to not cooperate with me. Before long I could hear him talking clearly.

 

"Hyung! Wake up!" 'Wake u? I'm asleep?' I thought at that moment. And it was like that thought woke me up instantly. When you are dreaming, and in your dream, when you figure out you're dreaming, you'll wake up right? Well, it was kind of like that. The only difference was that it felt like I hit my head hard and the taste of blood, that steel like taste, came back.

"Hyung? Hyung!" And then there was something touching my shoulders. I opened my eyes and saw a very worried looking Daesung shaking me.

 

"Dae? C-could you stop doing that, it's making me nauseous..." The hand left my shoulders and instead he partially picked me up and hugged me, his fingertips digging in my back.

 

"Hyung, thank god. You scared me... I was so worried. I tried to wake you up, but you stayed unconscious... You really scared me..." He said in a soft voice filled with emotions. Those words and the feeling of relieve that he was alright made me tear up again. I was able to keep the tears inside, but he must have sensed it. He put his hands on my shoulders again and pushed himself away from me a bit to look at my face.

"Hyung? Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" I shook my head and smiled slightly at him. And then I remembered what happened, what we did.

 

"Dae, I'm sorry..." I said I was sorry, but until today I actually don't feel sorry at all. I've accepted the fact that I'm not straight and that I've fallen for my best friend. But Daesung might not feel the same way and the last thing I wanted to do at that moment is to scare away the only person that takes me for who I am.

 

"Hyung, what are you talking about? Oh, you mean the bite? Hyung, I've told you to do that!" He smiled.

 

"No, not that... I mean I'm sorry for what happened... after I bit you..." I said and I'm sure I was blushing hard at that moment.

 

"Hyung, I... I'm not following you. You bit me and fainted... Did... did I miss something." He stared at me with a confused face. And I remember I was as equally confused as he was. Nothing happened? What we... did, didn't happen? I dreamt it all? When I thought about it, it could make sense. It was somewhat a relieve I made it all up, but I couldn't help to feel sad about it either. I looked up and Daesung's expression was still one of confusion. I had to talk my way out of it.

 

"No! No... I mean I am sorry for scaring you like that..." I'm pretty sure it didn't sound very convincing, but he looked like he believed me.

 

We got up and talked about the fainting. Daesung said he was sure that I wasn't a vampire because of various things: being able to walk outside when the sun was shining and of course, me fainting when drinking blood. I couldn't possibly tell him about the feeling I got when I tasted his blood and what I was dreaming about. So instead I asked him what he thought I was then, since I still wasn't very convinced. He told me that he thought I was some kind of human, but with superpowers like X-men or something. I couldn't help but to stare at him with wide eyes. X-men?!? But then he burst out in laughter.

 

"Hyung, I'm kidding! I don't know what you are but you're definitely not an X-men!"

 

A few days later, when I was sure I could contain my... 'abnormal' features, I went back to school. I apologized to my teacher about my absence. I told him I was sick and, fortunately, he bought it. 

 

+++

 

The rest of my school life went pretty normal. I made a lot of friends, got good enough grades, those kinds of things. I also had a bunch of girls in my class that asked me out on a date (again). To keep up appearances, I did went out on a date with a couple of them. But I don't have to tell you that it didn't work out. Daesung also didn't frequently went out on dates. In fact, I can't recall he ever did. But Daesung told me once that he didn't like to go out and that he'd rather read a book. So yeah, Everything went great. And at that time, I thought that my bad luck was for ever gone.

 

But I was wrong. About a year ago, strange things started to happen across the city. Weird homicides, strange forms were captured on security cams, unexplainable things happened to people, ... It was all over the news and when a few people in talk shows started to talk about supernatural beings, I got scared. Daesung told me not to worry too much about it, but I couldn't help it.

 

And a few days after that, our school's secretary called us to the media hall and turned on the news.

 

This is an extra news report. The government stated that the possibility of existing supernatural being might not be only a gossip. Our reporters interviewed the parents of a student that recently appeared different. They told us that their son was a normal teenager until he started to eat less and less. When they finally forced him to eat, he changed. His hair became hellish red as well as his eyes and he had a horn on one side of his head. Before long he changed back to normal and ran away from home. He's been missing since. Here is a photo of the boy. If you have seen this person, please call the police. There is no sign of him being violent so don't panic when you encounter him.

 

The picture they showed was one of a normal looking kid just like me. He had blond hair and a piercing in the middle of his bottom lip. I turned my head and looked at Daesung who was sitting next to me. He looked back and got closer and whispered in my ear.

 

"Hyung, is it me, or is this kid..."

 

"Yes, I think he is something like me..." I cut him off.

 

"One thing, you remember that you changed again after eating something just like he did? Maybe eating triggers whatever this is..." It had crossed my mind before.

 

"Maybe, but it didn't the first time... But it can be that that's not the only thing that triggers it."

 

From that day, every news report was filled with signs of supernatural life. Neutral reports, but also negative ones. People got more and more scared. Even at school we were advised to come and go to school in pairs and to not go out unless it was absolutely necessary. They started to refer to us as monsters. Other students started to talk about them, making up stories about them. You even had some fans but most students were against them. Our class held a few talking sessions about it. Daesung and I tried to stay out of sight as much as possible, when we had to say something we would just go with the flow.

 

But more and more people began to protest against 'us'. And six months ago the government introduced a special force to the public. When I saw them on TV I recognized them immediately. They were the strange men in suits with the neon green logo I saw at the hospital and the court room.

 

We are a special force, made to handle the 'monsters'. We have a confession to make. 25 years ago we were making a drug to cure lung cancer. When the testing of the drug on humans should've begun, we had to stop due to complication. Unfortunately, We, illegally continued to test it on humans. We had a lot of people signing up since we promised them a lot of money in return. Because it was illegal, we didn't write them up.

 

For the past six months, we've had scientists investigating them and we came to the conclusion that it is caused by a minor gene mutation. Unfortunately for now, we have no cure for it. The only thing that we did discover was that the change is triggered by either rage or food and possible other things too. We advice everybody to report to us when they see something weird. We are examining every 'being' in our new center. Not to be alarmed, we don't hurt them, we just want to know more about them.

 

I couldn't believe my ears, my parents allowed them to experiment on me in return for money?!? But I decided not to dwell on that. I didn't buy the 'we are not hurting them'. From that moment I had to make sure I was very careful not to get caught, everybody knew then that eating would make sure you were either human or not. So I frequently brought empty candy wrappers to school and threw them away in front of others, just to make sure.

 

+++

 

And this brings me to the present. It's my birthday today! I'm 18 now. A few moments ago, I woke up to the sound of my cell phone. Daesung has send me a happy birthday message. I get up from my bed, put on some random clothes and go downstairs. I enter the living room and see a present lying on the dining table. The relationship between me and my parents only got worse the past six months due to my discovery, but they didn't turn me in. I open the present and find a simple but beautiful silver necklace inside of it. Next to the present I see a letter. I open it and read it.

 

Hey honey,

 

Happy birthday! We hope you'll like your present. We know this doesn't make up for our mistakes, but we'd hoped you can forgive us and start over. We love you, no matter what.

 

Love,

 

Mom and dad.

 

Tears are leaving my eyes and the letter falls from my hands. Maybe it's time that me and parents and a good conversation. I pick up the necklace again and walk towards the closest mirror in the house. I put on the necklace and stare at my reflection. My eyes are red and puffy already and I smile. Happiness fills my veins. Despite everything my parents love me, I have a friend that would do everything for me, school is going pretty well,... I smile again and clean myself up. Arriving at school looking like that on your birthday isn't really cool.

 

Oh shit, school! I look at the clock hanging next to the mirror. Oh no, class starts in 5 minutes! I pick up my backpack and run as fast as I can to school. Lucky it's not that far away. I arrive a few minutes too late. Crap, I don't want to get detention on my birthday! So I run to my classroom, knock on the door and enter, looking at my feet while apologizing for being late. When there's no response I look up to find my classmates and teacher smiling at me.

 

"Happy birthday!!!" They scream. I put down my backpack and look at the teacher in confusion.

 

"I know this might seem weird, but you're the first one that turns 18 so we thought it'd be a nice idea to do this." He says laughing. I smile back and search for Daesung. He's standing at the back of my classmates and isn't smiling. In fact, he looks rather worried. My smile disappears immediately and I want to go to him, but the teacher grabs my arm and pulls me towards the front of the classroom.

"And since you're the first one, we got you something." He stops right in front of his desk and steps aside. Fear and horror fills my head as I see what's on the desk. A cake. Shit! Of all things, they got me food. So that's why Daesung wasn't smiling. The teacher hands me a plate with a piece of cake on it.

"Here, you get the first piece!" I stare at the food in front of me, I can't possibly eat it, or even taste it. How do I get out of this situation?!? What do I do? He must have seen me hesitating.

"Seunghyun, is there a problem? You're not eating..." I need to think of something fast. I look up at him and try to smile.

 

"Ah no, it's just... It's just that I-I'm... I'm allergic, yes I'm allergic to cake..." God, could you even sound more unbelievable. I know I'm not a good liar, so much is clear now.

 

"You're allergic... to cake?" He looks at me, one eyebrow going up.

 

"Yes!! Uhmm, even the smell makes me nauseous, so can- can I go to the bathroom, please?" I ask, voice clearly not stead. I need to get out of here before it get worse. He nods and I dash out of the classroom. I enter the bathroom and stare at my reflection in the mirrors. Now what? If I stay here for a while, they'll send somebody to come and check if I'm okay... Yes, and they'll probably send Daesung! So, I'm going to wait here for a bit.

 

But after half an hour, nobody's coming. There goes my plan. Perhaps they've finished the cake already. Maybe I should just return.

 

+++

 

I stand in front of the door of the classroom, I take a deep breath and open it. But as soon as I enter my body freezes at the sight in front of me. Three men in black suits with those very familiar neon green badges were sitting at the other side of the classroom with my classmates behind them, looking at me with a scared expression. One of the men, wearing sunglasses, started talking.

 

"Choi Seunghyun, right?" I nodded.

"I'm sure you already know why we're here. See one of your classmates called us saying you refused to eat your birthday cake. I fact, she told us that she, and some of her friend, don't recall seeing you eat, ever..." I try to answer them but my teacher cut me off.

 

"Now wait a minute, he didn't refuse, he told us he was allergic to cake. And I'm sure tha-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt you sir, but this isn't the first time we've met." The man looks at me and that back at my teacher, who was still silent and confused.

"I notice nobody told you what happened at his previous school. See, our little handsome, fit Seunghyun here used to be not so fit at all. And the school's bullies decided to pick on him." I really don't want to hear this, I don't want to remember.

 

"Stop it." I say quietly. The guy looks up at me, smirks and looks back at the teacher.

 

"One day, they cornered him, seven of them, in the school's bathroom. They were probably calling him names when something in him snapped." I can feel my blood starting to boil and I warn him again not to continue. But he just smiles and goes on.

"See, the end result wasn't that pretty, four of them died."

 

"Stop it!!" I practically scream. And then, I can see their blood running through their veins again and I can feel my teeth and nails growing. I hear a few gasps coming from my classmates. When I look behind them, at myself in the reflection of the window, I can see why. My eyes are bright blue once again, skin as pale as a corpse and my teeth and nails are sharp and pointy. Out of nowhere the man with the sunglasses laughs.

 

"My my, short fuse we have. Is this also why you killed your bullies?"

 

"I didn't kill them!" I snap back but he just continues to laugh.

 

"No, you don't remember you did, but you did kill them! You have torn them apart, you monster!" I back down at those words, because I really don't remember. I didn't want to kill them. I look back up and I can feel tears stinging my eyes.

 

"I'm not a monster!" My voice almost gives out, cracking. The guy chuckles and shakes his head.

 

"Then you have nothing to fear. Now, why don't you to come with us quietly, without making anything worse, huh?" All three of them take out ropes and cuffs and start to walk towards me. As I back away, I hear Daesung screaming at me.

 

"Hyung, run!!" And I do. I run out of the classroom, out of the school and I just keep running.


	4. On the run

"Hyung, run!!" And I do. I run out of the classroom, out of the school and I just keep running.

 

I'm running so fast now I can hardly breath. It's traffic hour in Seoul, can you imagine? People are staring at me, is it so obvious I'm running away from the authorities? Is there a sigh on my forehead that says: I'm a monster that is fleeing from... from... Whatever they are? That's not right, they can't know that. I can hear sirens, but they're so far away, I doubt that anyone thinks they're after me. The people I almost run into are backing away, in fear?

 

Oh, now I know... In my haste, I forgot to 'change' back into a more normal looking teenager. So I concentrate and sure, I can feel my nails retracting to their normal size, which tells me I look normal once more. I keep running and when I turn around the next corner, people aren't staring as much as they did. Good.

 

Huh, it's weird. It's my 18th birthday today. I guess normal kids spend this day a bit different. But running is the best option here. I really don't want to get caught. Although 'they' claimed they won't do anything to us except performing some tests, I don't want to find out. Besides, for the past month or so, stories started to go around the school. Stories about people like me, people that were caught and never heard from again. Even though they might not be true, most people that got caught didn't do anything wrong. I, on the other hand, already... Or so it would seem.

 

I can't hear the sirens anymore so I stop running. Staying on the streets would be a bad idea. I look around and spot an abandoned apartment. While looking around, to see if nobody's paying attention to me, I cross the street. There's an ally next to the apartment. Maybe it'd be best not to enter through the front door. As I walk into the ally, there's indeed a small backdoor. I enter the building. It's too dark to see anything, now what? I don't have a lighter or anything like that. Wait, I remember that the first time I 'changed' my strength didn't improve that much, as well as my night vision. But after a while I thought it did improve, maybe...

 

And sure, when I eyes change bright blue, I can see my surroundings. I'm standing in a kitchen. It clearly hasn't been used in a very long time. Everything looks rusty and there's no food in sight. Not that I'd need any. As I make my way through the kitchen, I can see rats fleeing from me. I can see their tiny veins. Now I've been watching vampire movies the past four months, just to, you know, make sure I wasn't a vampire. I even watched the vampire chick flicks and there was always one thing they had in common: bloodlust. And I don't have that, at all. I don't feel hungry, I have no need for food. But I also have no need for blood. When I bit Daesung, I did feel something. But it turned out it was just a dream.

 

There's a door at the end of the kitchen. I walk through the door and I'm standing in a hallway with stairs. Upstairs there are probably some bedroom. Maybe it would be best if I try to sleep a bit. As I go upstairs I notice that I didn't bring my backpack. Shit, I left it in the classroom. I want to call Daesung, to see if he's okay. They must have noticed that he knows about me, since he was the one that told me to run. On the other hand, he's 'normal' so I don't think they're allowed to do something. And knowing Daesung, he's probably more worried about me than about himself. But since my cell phone is still in my backpack, there's no way I can contact him.

 

On the second floor, there are a lot of separate rooms. Come to think of it, the building looks more like a hotel. I open one of the doors and enter the room. Inside, I can see a comfortable looking bed. There's a window on the other side of the room. It's been closed off with wood but there's light coming in through the cracks. I lie on the bed and close my eyes. The running has worn me out. Since the window's glass is broken, the room is cold. It's November. Why did this happen now and not during the summer? It's freezing, even if I'm wearing a coat. I had a scarf as well, but while I was running, I threw it away. Stupid, stupid me!

How long am I going to have to run? I don't have a car or money, so I'll have to do everything by foot? Great... I can stay here for a while, but soon they'll start looking for me. And an abandoned building isn't really a very original place to hide. I'm sure that by now they've showed my picture on TV. So it's best to leave the city. My eyes start to get tired. I close them and practically fall asleep right away.

 

+++

 

I wake up to the sound of cars honking. The light isn't coming through the cracks of the window anymore, so I guess it's already night. I must have been exhausted. I still can't believe I fell asleep like that. It's actually quite dangerous. I sit up and suddenly remember what I've dreamt about.

Daesung and I were walking next to the han river on a sunny summer day. He was holding my hand in his and smiled at me. I was holding some ice cream.

"Hyung, can I have a taste of your ice cream?"

"sure" I said, and I held it in front of his face.

"Ah, but I want hyung to feed me." He pouted. And I took some of the ice cream in my mouth, got closer to Daesung and kissed him.

And then I woke up. Great, Why did my mind decide that this was an excellent time to dream something like that? I get up from the bed. I really do want to call Daesung now. I want to know he's okay, I want to hear his voice,... But without a cell phone... Wait, maybe there's a phone booth nearby. It's dangerous to go outside, but it's dark. There aren't a lot of people walking around anymore, and if there are it's too dark to see my face clearly. And if I don't move soon, I'm going to freeze to death.

I leave the building and put the collar of my coat up so it covers most of my face. I look around. Nobody's walking on the sideways anymore. There's a digital clock hanging on one of the shops across the street, reading 21:13. I really slept for a long time then.

I walk around for a while and then I see a phone booth standing on a street corner. I walk towards it while searching for some change in my pockets. Up close, the phone booth looked pretty old but still working. I take the change out of my pocket and put it in the phone. I dial Daesung's number. Yes, it's the only number I know by heart. When the beeping starts, my heart begins to beat harder. After w hat feels like forever, I can hear somebody picking up.

 

"Hello?" His voice, he's okay. I want to answer, but my throat constricts. I'm so happy he's okay.

"Hyung? Is that you?" My eyes widen, how does he know that? I don't know why, but I can feel tears stinging in my eyes. I try to say something, but there's still no sound coming from my mouth.

"It's you, isn't it? Are you okay hyung?" He speaks in a soft and caring voice. God, why is he so kind to me? I don't deserve a friend like him. Tears are streaming down my cheeks. I should say something since I don't have a lot of time before the phone runs out of money. I open my mouth and try to say something without my voice cracking too much, but who am I kidding...

 

"D-Dae-" But I get cut off by a voice shouting at me.

 

"Choi Seunghyun! Put down the phone and turn around slowly!" Crap, they've found me. I do as I'm told. I can see a couple of 'agents' standing there. When I look closer, I notice that they aren't caring guns or anything like that. So I decide to run , changing back into my 'supernatural' form so I'm a bit faster than them.

 

But when I cross the street, I forget to look out for any possible cars. I hear a honk and look to my right, just in time to see a car hit my leg. I'm smashed against the asphalt a few meters further. The pain in my leg is indescribable. My leg looks torn up, blood seeping through my trousers. I hear footsteps coming closer and I remember that I have to run. And I do. Despites my injured leg, I get up and run as fast as I can.

 

I'm totally delusional the entire time I'm running and it seems like I was able to shake them off at some point. I'm not stopping however, they can be back anytime. But my foot gets stuck behind a side border and I trip and fall.

 

"Aargh!!" Shit that hurt! My leg is in a very bad shape. I crawl towards the closest wall I can find and pull myself up. I can't keep running in this condition. I look around and it seems like I'm in an industry zone. The highway bridge that runs above an abandoned wasteland seems to be full of life. The bottom part of the bridge is delineated with tall fences. I can see an opening between two fences. It seems like a good place to hide for now. I stumble towards the opening and try to wriggle myself in between the two fences without making too much noise.

Inside, it's dark. The fences cut off the street lamps' light. Luckily, I can see in the dark now. Or see good enough to see where I'm going anyway. I walk in the direction of one of the bridge's pillars. There's something and its foot. It looks like there's a hovel or something. I continue walking until I can hear a voice behind me.

 

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" I turn around to see a figure with red, glowing eyes. I back away instantly. Shit, I can't run!

"I said: Who are you and what are you doing here!?" His voice only got stronger. It's clear he is something like me, but that doesn't mean anything. I continue to back away.

 

"I-I'm running from t-those guys in the black suits with those neon logo's. I'm just looking for a place to hide!" As proof I show him my blue eyes and fangs.

"I'm hurt and I can't run anymore, please that's all!" I can see him reaching out and I try to back away further, but there's something on the ground that makes me fall down once more. It's really not my day.

"Aargh!"

 

"Shit, are you okay?" The stranger asks me, his voice now worried instead of angry. He bends down and I can now see his face. He looks about my age, has hellish red hair that is shaped like a horn on one side, his eyes are even more red and he has a piercing in his bottom lip. He looks apologetic at me.

"Crap, I didn't want to scare you like that. Can you stand?" He holds out his hand and I nod. I take his hand in mine and pull myself up. He puts his head under my arm so I can lean on him and we slowly walk towards the hovel. When he opens the door, there's a small fire in the middle of the room. Around the fire are boxes and some thin mattresses with blankets. He puts me down on one of them and starts talking again.

"Sorry about that, I thought you were one of them suit guys." He says smiling slightly.

"When I looked closer I recognized you from the pictures they've showed on TV this afternoon. And no, I don't have a TV here, I saw it on the great screen at the end of the highway. Just so you know, the entire city is looking for you." And then his hair colour changes into blond, the horn disappears and his eyes turn brown. I recognize him now.

 

"Y-you're the kid that ran away almost a year ago, the first one!" He looks at me and nods.

 

"Yeah, that's me. The name's Jiyong by the way." He smiles again, sadly this time.

"Your name is Seunghyun, right?" I nod. He looks at me and then looks at my injured leg. He turns around and starts to rummage through some of the boxes.

"Your leg looks awful and since I can't exactly take you to a hospital... Ah, here it is!" He says a little brighter. He turns around again and shows me a first aid kit. He comes over and sits next to me. With his hands, he carefully lifts up my torn trouser. The cut on my leg isn't bleeding any longer, but the gash in my leg is pretty nasty looking. Jiyong takes out some disinfectant and puts some of it on the cut.

 

"Aah-" I bite my lip so I wouldn't scream. He looks at me.

 

"Sorry... How did you get this?" He asks.

 

"I got ambushed, ran away and got it by a car somewhere in Seoul..." He looks at me in disbelieve, eyes wide.

 

"You got hit by a car and ran 6 miles with this leg?!?" 6 miles? Wow...

"How were you discovered then?"

 

"It's my birthday today. At school they tried to surprise me by buying a cake and when I refused to eat..."

 

"So you already knew you were... 'different'?"

 

"Yeah, I was 13 when I first discovered it... You didn't know?"

 

"No, when I first changed a year ago, my parents saw. My mom freak out and my dad grabbed his shotgun and told me to get out of the house." He smiles, or at least he tries to.

"Can... Can I ask you what happened to you?" I nod and tell him everything. I tell him about the bullies, about what happened to them, the men in suits, my parents, Daesung... I even told him about the hallucination when I bit Daesung.

"Shit and I thought my life sucked... But at least you have a boyfriend that loves you." I look at him an shake my head.

 

"No, wait. I never told him about it... He was my only real friend and I put him through enough crap already, so..."

 

"You didn't tell him?!" I nod sadly.

 

"And now I wish I did..." I try so hard not to cry and I guess he sees it. He puts his hand on my shoulder and smiles at me.

 

"You'll get your chance, believe me! Besides from now on, you have two friends!" He laughs and I can't help but to laugh as well.


	5. Friend

Jiyong is indeed a good friend. For the past few days he told me to just rest in the shackle. He'd gone out for a couple of hours and came back with clean bandages for my leg and some medicine for the pain. He does more than he needs to do, but when I tell him that, he says that that's just how he is and that I'll have to live with it. We mostly chat about random stuff, like what our hobbies are... Or were... Favourite colour, stuff like that. I tell him practically everything, but he seems to hold back a bit.

Sometimes he's just staring at the 'wall', not focusing on anything in particular. He just stands there, spacing out. When I finally do get his attention, he smiles at me. The only thing is, it doesn't look very genuine.

I don't mean it's because he doesn't like me or finds me annoying or anything. It's more like he remembers something, something sad.

I've been here for over a week now. I just woke up but Jiyong is nowhere in sight. He's probably out, looking for some stuff like bandages. My leg's better now, it's not fully healed and it still hurt occasionally, but I can walk again.

There's not a lot to do here, Jiyong bought some book but I don't like reading that much. We don't have a lot of electronics since there isn't any electricity. We do have walkie-talkies, an old game boy and some flashlights since they run on batteries. I look around and notice that the laundry is gone. He probably took it to a Laundromat in one of the suburbs.

I'm going through some boxes, hoping to find something to do, when I hear a sound coming from outside the shackle. I change into the other 'me' and grab one of the lead pipes we have. Jiyong told me that there were some people who tried to come in, but until now they were just curious. Then again, you never know. I move closer to the door. I'm in no condition to fight so I have to be quick.

The door suddenly opens and reveals a shocked Jiyong, caring our now clean clothes.

"Jesus Christ, you scared me! Why do you look like you're going to attack me soon?!" He asks, voice slightly higher than normal. I lower the pipe and chuckle.

"Sorry, I thought you were somebody else..." He enters and put the clean clothes into a plastic bag.

"Everything okay?"

 

"Yeah, if I just act normal, nobody even looks at me, so..." He sort of smiles at me and looks at my almost healed leg.

"Time to change the bandages." He takes out clean ones and sits down on his mattress. I sit down next to him and put out my leg.

 

"You know, I don't think we need bandages any longer, it's practically healed. I can walk on it now... Soon I'll be able to go outside as well, so we can go in shif-" But I'm cut off by an angry sounding Jiyong.

"No! You don't go out, not on your own at least!"

 

"Why not?"

 

"Because!" You were on the news. People will recognize you..."

 

"I'll make sure I'm not recognizable then. Ji trust me, I won't get caught." As soon as the words leave my mouth I can see his expression changing from angry to sad.

 

"Yeah, that's what they all say..." He whispers, head slightly turned from me. I can still see most of his face, he looks just like he does when he spaces out. Something's not right here, and I really want to know what.

 

"Okay, I'm done waiting for you to start talking. Something's really wrong here and we're not going to do anything else until you tell me what's bothering you!" I say in a stern voice, which is not like me, but I really want to know. He looks me in the eyes and sighs.

 

"Back in high school I had a two people I cared about, my best friend and my boyfriend. We were inseparable, the three of us. When the 'incident' happened, I ran away without saying goodbye. I thought I'd never see them again and I remember I cried myself to sleep every night. After a few weeks however, I was already living here, I heard some rumble outside of the shackle. When it opened, they were both standing there, changed, just like us."

 

"Wait, they were also..."

 

"Yeah... They told me they knew about their 'condition' for quite a while then, so... Anyway, we started to live together here. It all worked pretty well and we actually had a good time. But then, they started to hunt us and a month ago, when they were in the city to get some stuff, it took longer than normal. So I went out as well and when I arrived in the middle of Seoul, I... I could see how my friend was dragged into a van, with force and my boyfriend was dragged in unconscious... They were really hurt and I couldn't do anything to help them, so... I ran away..." He's trying to hold back his tears when he tells me the story, I put my hand on his cheek and make him look at me.

 

"I'm sorry..." I don't know what else to say. I can't tell him that it's going to be alright or that we'll find them because I just don't know. I don't even know what's really going. What are we going to do? Are we going to stay here or are we going to move away to another shelter? If we stay here during the winter we're going to freeze to death for sure. I mean, we don't have to eat and we have some special powers, but being indifferent to temperatures isn't one of them.

"Ji, what are we going to do?" I finally ask. He looks up, looking less sad.

 

"I don't know. I know that this is going to be a construction site soon so..."

 

"So we need to move out... Maybe it's better to start looking for a new place to stay and transport all our stuff there?" I ask in a tiny voice.

 

"But you're-"

 

"Yes I know, but staying is not an option..."

 

+++

 

We decided that it'd be best to stay near the city. Sure it's dangerous to stay near a lot of people, but travelling greater distances to get supplies would be even more dangerous. Jiyong said that he has found a place near a park in a practically deserted area. We organized the our stuff and came to the conclusion that we couldn't carry everything in one go.

 

"So we'll have to go back and forth a couple of times..." Ji says, one hand on his hip and the other on the back of his head. He cut his blond hair yesterday, because he stands out with it. It looks good on him, makes him younger and more discrete (although the piercing doesn't help, but he told me that it was a present from his boyfriend so I'm not going to complain about it.).

"How's the leg?"

 

"Well enough." I say, picking up one of the bags. But Jiyong waves with his hands and tells me to put it down.

 

"You're not leaving like this... Here." He hands me a black coat with a high collar, a dark coloured scarf and -hat. I put them on and look at myself in the broken mirror we have. I look fairly unrecognizable, except for my eyes. My eyes were always the most precious thing I had, or so Daesung told me.

 

Daesung...

 

I miss him. There's no other person I want to see more. I wonder if he's okay, again. Yelling to run away probably didn't go unnoticed by those 'special force' guys. This, I'm so tired of this shit. Jiyong must notice that I'm spacing out.

 

"What's on your mind?" He asks in a light voice. I don't want to bother him, not after what happened to his friend and boyfriend. So I just shake my head and try to smile at him.

"You're thinking about Daesung aren't you?" I feel my jaw dropping in shock. This guy, really, I don't know how the hell he does it, but I can't keep anything from him.

 

"Is one of your abilities reading minds or something?!" I almost yell, but Jiyong just laughs in return, holding his hand in front of his mouth to dim the noise.

 

"Haha, what? No! Hyung really? Everybody can see what you are thinking if they just look at your eyes!"

 

"... I really hate my eyes... And why does everybody call me hyung?!"

 

"Are you kidding? You have gorgeous eyes, especially when they're blue!" Jiyong stops laughing after that, comes closer and looks straight in my eyes.

"And I call you hyung because you're older than me, isn't that normal?" He looks at me questionably.

 

"I don't really like it, Daesung does it too. It makes me feel... old..." I say while taking a step back.

 

"Okay, what about Hyunnie then?" It doesn't sound too bad, just a bit too cute but then again, it's Jiyong. The guy is always dressed up like a rainbow... Come to think about it, the clothes make him stand out more than the previous haircut did...

I sigh. It's no use trying to tell him all that.

 

"Fine..." I mumble. Jiyong picks up the bag I dropped and hands it over.

 

"Let's go..."


	6. Travelling

It takes us approximately 30 minutes to get from the shackle to the new place. It doesn't look too bad to be honest. I mean, sure the house looks like it's about to collapse and all, but at least we'll be spending our winter days in between brick walls.

 

We've kept our distance when we walked over here, just to be sure. Jiyong walked ahead of me in his almost too colourful clothes. You'd think people would stare at him and be suspicious, but it was the other way around. Every time people passed me, I felt like they knew who I was. Jiyong was practically hopping all the way, smiling at everyone he'd passed.

But now, Jiyong hands me his bags, opens the door of the building and tells me to follow him. Once inside I have to change to see anything because all the windows were closed off with planks. I look at Jiyong and I see he has changed as well, eyes glowing bright red.

 

"Follow me..." He says and walks towards the stairs. I do as I'm told.

 

"Ji?" I ask to get his attention. He doesn't stop climbing the stairs but turns his head around to look at me.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Did you notices that, although we look different when we are like this, our 'abilities' are almost the same?" Now he stops and turns around completely, clearly a bit confused.

 

"How do you fi-" But I already know what he's about to ask so I interrupt him.

 

"Because you can see better in the dark but also in general, right?" He nods.

"You feel stronger and it's more difficult to stay calm when you're angry?" Nod.

"You're faster than you were?" He nods.

 

"I get where you're going, but let's continue this upstairs, there's something I have to tell you, okay?" He smiles slightly. Tell me something? Tell me what? I really don't like the sound of this. We continue walking, god how far do these stairs go? They are probably not that high, but my leg still hurts. The walk over here didn't help it to heal but it was okay, the stairs however...

 

Eventually we reach the top of the stairs. I'm tired and the pain in my leg is almost unbearable, but I try not to show it. Then again, Jiyong notices everything so who am I fooling. He looks at me worried, but I just smile.

 

"I'm fine."

 

"No, you're not!" He walks towards me, takes my arm and puts it over his shoulder.

"Come on..." Jiyong pushes the closest door open and leads us inside. I can't believe my eyes. The room looks like an hotel room in use. There's a bed, a sofa, a table, chairs, a carpet, a cupboard, blankets,... For a few moments I forget the pain in my leg and look around.

 

"Woah..."

 

"I know right? It looks like we've just rented a room in a hotel... The only thing is, there's no heating... But hey, we even have a working bathroom!" Jiyong exclaims happy. He points over to a door.

"We have water, but we'll need to heat it with fire. But first things first, let us take a look at that leg of yours."

 

I sit down on the sofa and pull my jeans up and sure, the leg's bleeding again. Jiyong takes a look at it and starts to look around.

 

"What's wrong?" I ask. It looks like he's searching for something.

 

"I need a light, otherwise I won't be able to see what I'm doing..." What?

 

"I thought you could see in the dark, just like me??" He nods and sighs.

 

"That's what I wanted to tell you on the chairs... Okay, take my hand." He puts out his right hand. I take it but release it almost immediately.

 

"Ah, jeeeez! It's hot!" He pulls it back and nods again.

 

"Yep, every time I change my hands feel like they're on fire. That's why I handed over the bags, because they would just burn. I can touch most metals though, probably because they need higher temperatures to melt... Didn't you notice that I didn't touch you with my hands?" As I think of it, it does make sense now. So that's why he handed those bags over...

 

"Wait, why only your hands?"

 

"I... I don't know... But remember when I told you I had ran away from home? When I arrived at my hiding spot, it felt like my whole body was on fire... And it got me thinking... What if our 'powers' aren't truly developed yet?"

 

"... You've got a point there... Hey, what about fire?"

 

"Fire?" He looks at me like I just said the dumbest thing ever.

 

"Yeah, can you, you know... Touch it?" He looks pensive for a while.

 

"I don't know..." Maybe we should test it. I put my hands inside my coat's pockets, I'm fairly sure I have a lighter in there somewhere. I suddenly feel something metal-ish and take it out, and yes, there it is.

 

"Here, try it!" I put it on and the little flame lightens up the entire room. Jiyong looks at me with wide eyes.

 

"Are you nuts?! What if I can't?!"

 

"You'll notice that quite soon. Soon enough anyway. Come on, try it!" I bring the lighter closer to him. He slowly puts out his hand, doubt written on his face. After a few seconds, he puts his hand in the flame and doesn't take it out.

 

"Oh. My. God... No way..." He says what I think.

 

"Well? How does it feels?" I ask, my voice not higher than a whisper. Jiyong looks at his hand like it's an alien. His mouth hangs open a bit in disbelieve.

 

"A bit warm, but that's it..." Jiyong still looks like he's under some sort of spell. It makes me a bit uneasy so I close the lid of the lighter, putting out the flame while doing so. Jiyong's face changes back to 'normal' as he seems to snap out of it. He stands up and starts pacing around the room, thinking. I, In the meanwhile, patch up my leg with the bandage we (luckily) brought with us. With me putting down my jeans again, I can feel the sofa dip next to me.

 

"Hyunnie, what does this mean? What are we going to do now?" He asks me. It's the first time I've seen him looking so lost.

 

"I don't know... But we should get the other bags here..." I ready myself to stand up when Jiyong grabs my arm and looks me in the eye.

 

"No, it can wait 'till tomorrow. Can we just rest for now, with your leg and all?" It seems as if the reason to stay here is my leg, but there's something else as well. Jiyong looks tired, sad even.

 

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask him, putting my hand on his shoulder as I do. He turns his head, nods and tries to smile. But the smile doesn't reach his eyes.

"You sure?" And he nods again.

 

"Yeah, I'm just tired, that's all... Let's get some sleep..." He stands up and squeezes himself underneath my arm so I can lean on them. We make our way towards the bed. It's big enough for us both so I take the right side and Jiyong the other. I take the blanket and pull it so it covers us almost completely. We say our goodnights and Jiyong turns his back to me and I can see the red hair making place for the short blond. I change as well and the room goes black.

 

Going to sleep is the hardest thing to do. Being careful not to get caught isn't easy either, but at least your mind is busy with trying to stay as hidden as possible. Lying in your bed, trying to get some sleep however... You start to think about everything, your life, your parents... Daesung... But I try not to think about all those things as much as possible and focus on falling asleep.

 

And I almost succeed, until I can hear sniffing coming from my right side. I change back so I can see where the sound is coming from, although I pretty much already know. Jiyong is still facing the other side, but his shoulder is going up and down slightly. I put my hand on his shoulder and he immediately freezes. He probably thought that I was already asleep.

 

"Hey..." I whisper and squeezes his shoulder lightly to comfort him. He turns around and hides his head in my chest, sobbing now. I don't have to ask what's wrong, I can see that I'm not the only one who finds it hard not to think about the people we care about. I put my arms around his back and kiss his forehead. And there's only one thing I can do right now. And that's to lie.

"Everything is going to be alright..."

 

+++

 

I wake up to the sound of water running. I open my eyes and the room is lithe with tiny sunbeams that made their way through the cracks in the barricaded windows. I turn my head to find Jiyong gone. But the noise coming from the bathroom answers my question to where he is. I must have fell asleep at some point last night.

 

The door of the bathroom opens and reveals a Jiyong only covered in a bath towel. He looks at me and smiles.

 

"Good morning." He seems happy again, or at least happier. So I smile back at him.

"There's some hot water left if you want. It took a while to head it up only using a small fire made out of curtain fabric but..."

 

"Thanks" I say and get up. My leg doesn't hurt so much anymore.

 

After cleaning myself up, I get dressed to get ready to leave. We still need to get the rest of the bags here. I enter the bedroom again and see that Jiyong is already putting on his shoes.

 

"Ready to go?" He asks as I sit down next to him. I nod.

"Are you sure? I mean, with the leg..."

 

"The leg is fine." I try to assure him. He gets up to leave but after 2 or 3 steps he stops walking. His back is turned to me.

 

"Hyunnie, about last night... I... I'm sorry..." He says softly.

 

"Ji, you've done nothing to be sorry about... Listen, I'm here... Talk to me, okay? I know how you feel..." I stand up and put my hand on his shoulder, just like I did last night.

 

"Still, crying like that..."

 

"Hey, it's okay to cry. You're not a monster, you're only human and this is the proof!" He finally turns his head and although his eyes are wet, he smiles.

 

"Thank you."

 

+++

 

When we go outside, the first thing we notice is the sun. For the first time in weeks it's sunny. It's also not as cold as it was. Unfortunately, that isn't necessarily a good thing. More sunshine means more people outside. More people outside means the chances we'd get caught are higher as well. But Jiyong tells me I have to act more natural, greet the people. He has a point. I pretty much look like I did something wrong while Jiyong looks like a happy kid on his way to school.

 

Shit, school! We're supposed to be at school at this time. Whatever, I look older than I am anyway and Jiyong looks so much like a walking rainbow that the people he encounters are totally lost. I walk ahead this time. We're almost have way, people are shopping and look happier than they normally do. I smile and almost forget I have to be careful. Luckily, nobody's paying us any attention.

 

Suddenly, I see a guy standing in the middle of the street, his back turned to me. And I don't know why, but he kind of looks like Daesung, even if I can't see his face. I guess when you miss someone, you see them everywhere, even though they're not really there. I keep my eyes on him and continue walking. The guy turns around suddenly and I can't believe my eyes.

 

"Dae?"


	7. Anaesthesia

"Dae?"

 

No. Way. I must have hit my head because what I'm seeing is surreal. Is it really Daesun? Is he really all right? They didn't capture him? So many questions are running through my head this moment. I rub my eyes and open them again. It's not a hallucination, he's really standing there.

 

"Dae..." I try a little harder. The sound just above a whisper, I don't know why I'm whispering since there's still quite a distance between us. But he turns his head again. He looks confused and starts to look around. He probably heard me, or heard his name at least. He looks kind of anxious for some reason. But he just turns around again. No, where are you going?

"Dae!" I practically scream. People around me are looking at me like I'm some kind of a madman. Maybe screaming was not the smartest thing to do, but I'll risk it. And sure, he hears me this time. He turns his head so fast, his almost platinum blond hair follows its movement in a wave. His eyes are wide open, a look of disbelieve on his face. It takes me a moment before I take my first step towards Daesung. I can feel myself smiling too hard. I probably look like an idiot right now but I couldn't care less.

 

But as I get closer, Daesung takes a step back.

"Dae?" I call out, trying to sound as confused as possible. He keeps on taking steps further away from my. He shakes his head, sorrow clearly written on his face. I speed up and reach out my hand but he just shakes his head harder. What's going on? Is he mad at me? I suddenly start to run towards him, I'm not planning on leaving him again.

 

"Hyunnie don't!!" I can hear Jiyong scream behind me and it is then that I see some sort of cam on Daesung's collar. Wait? Collar!? Shit, it's a trap!

 

Out of nowhere, people in black uniforms appear. The people that were standing around us back off and make way for the guys in uniforms. I don't have to think who they could be, they're the same guys that came to my school to take me with them. I turn around, we're surrounded. They all carry guns that are pointed to us. They are coming closer and I can hear sirens not too far away from here. I turn my head around again as I hear the sound of chains. I see some of the uniformed men connect an iron chain with his collar and pull him down with it. He hits the ground hard. How dare they! I have no control over myself and I change, angered by the action.

 

"Get away from him!" I scream. My voice sounds somewhat strange, lower than usual. I make my way towards Daesung.

 

"No, hyung, run!!!" As soon as he said it, one of the men holding Daesung takes his weapon out and hits Daesung's head with the back of it. Daesung falls back to the ground, not moving any longer. I lose it. A couple of uniformed men run towards me to take me down. But I'm done playing the nice guy, I'm done with the not-attacking-on-full-strength. I punch the guy that gets close to me first in the face. They keep coming so I keep punching around and it's actually working. I hear a cry of pain behind me. I turn around to find Jiyong has changed as well, holding his hands on one of the men's face. The guy's face is like a red moonscape when Jiyong finally releases him.

 

I make a crucial mistake however. By watching Jiyong, I let my guard down. Suddenly, I feel a painful sting in my arm. Shit, they gave me an anaesthetic and a fast working one. I feel dizzy, my vision gets more blurry by the second. But I keep on going. I try to make my way over to Daesung, but his unconscious body gets dragged towards, what I think is a van. The men in the suits are trying to stop me by hitting and punching me, but I can barely feel it due to the anaesthetic. Unfortunately, they decided to hit my head with a dull object. Every hit makes my vision go darker and darker. Why? Why won't you all just let me go to Daesung? But it's no use resisting, my body feels so heavy and with a final hit on the head, I slip into unconsciousness.

 

***

 

I'm dreaming, I'm almost 100% sure I am. And you know, once you know you're dreaming, you'll wake up, right? Yeah, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that when you're under anaesthesia, because I'm still asleep. I'm sitting, with my back against a tree, in an endless field, filled with small, white flowers. The sky is clear except for a couple of small clouds. A small breeze makes my hair dance around my ears. It tickles and I try to put it behind my ears, failing each time I try to do so. I suddenly hear a chuckle coming from my right. I turn my head and see Daesung sitting next to me, smiling his angel smile.

 

"Hyung, you're so clumsy sometimes. Let me." He moves over in front of me. He leans towards me and uses both his hands to put the unruly hair behind my ears. Every move movement he makes, his hands brush the sides of my face gently. I like this feeling, it's soft and warm. Sitting here forever like this would be a problem at all. Out of the blue, I feel hot air reaching my ear.

"Are you sleeping?" I hear him whisper. I open my eyes. When did I close them? Doesn't matter. There's only a few centimetres in between us. His eyes are sparkling when he smiles like he is now. Those lips, dear Lord. His lips are so full, they almost look like a cherry dropped in a glass of wine. Oh how much I would like to kiss them.

"Hyung, why are you blushing?" I'm blushing, oh no. I touch my left cheek to check, it does feel a little warmer than it should be. But I try to make a betrayed face, looking slightly angry.

 

"I'm not!" I say, but Daesung just laughs.

 

"Yes, you are!" I try to act upset by his statement, but he just keeps laughing so I guess I'm doing something wrong here. The playful bickering continues for a while, until Daesung breaks the chain.

"Can it be that Hyung is blushing because I'm sitting so close?" He says smoothly, too smoothly for my taste. I stare at him in shock.

 

"No, w-why would you think that?" I ask and I try to keep the nerves out of my voice doing so, but I fail. He moves closer again, I on the other hand try to back up a bit, but there's a tree standing in my way.

 

"Hhmm maybe because, one: your blush just intensified and you're backing up..." Ah, crap.

"And two: because you actually like me?" I- he- WHAT?!? Did he just say what I thing he said? Okay, deny it, just deny it.

 

"O-of course, I like you. You're m-my friend!" Yeah, really smooth.

 

"You know that's not what I meant..." His voice sounds somewhat sad. He puts his hand on my cheeks this time.

"I know you like me, I've known for quite a while now. And... I've tried so many times to give you signs to tell you that it's okay. But... You don't seem to get them. See, I've liked Hyung for a very long time also..." He smiles softly. Cheeks reddening as he's telling the story. My eyes are wide open. He likes me too? Daesung must have seen my confused expression, because he's chuckling.

"Hyung is so clueless sometimes..."

 

"W-why, didn't you say something?" I ask, still confused.

 

"Because you're older, you should tell me first." Because I'm older?

 

"What kind of logic is that?" I say, jokingly. Daesung fakes annoyance in return.

 

"It's completely normal. But I'll forgive hyung if he takes the next step." I'll play along.

 

"Okay, and what might be that next step?" Daesung looks at me with hesitation written on his face.

 

"I don't know... a k-kiss maybe?" I turn bright red instantly. Daesung sees this and turns his head to the side, a blush spread on his cheeks as well. Of course, that's the next logical step. And I can feel myself hesitate. Why? Why am I always like this. Okay Seunghyun, man up and just do it! I gently put my hand on his cheek and make him turn his head towards me again. He looks at me, somewhat nervous. I smile to reassure him and put my free hand under his chin and pull him in slowly...

 

***

 

A bright, white flash brings me back to reality. I try to open my eyes, but the light is too strong to do so. I let my eyes adjust for a moment until I can make out some shapes. I'm sitting on a chair in a room. I see a dark gray, concrete wall in front of me, with a huge mirror-like window in the middle of it, just like those in detective films. I turn my head around. There's nothing else inside of this room except for the remaining three walls, a black, steel door and two sound boxes. I try to move, but I'm apparently chained up on the chair. I struggle, maybe I can get out if I just move a lot.

 

A screech coming from the sound boxes, it hurts my ears. But it stops just after seconds and reveals a voice I recognize from before.

 

"Well well, awake at last?"


	8. Locked up 1

A bright, white flash brings me back to reality. I try to open my eyes, but the light is too strong to do so. I let my eyes adjust for a moment until I can make out some shapes. I'm sitting on a chair in a room. I see a dark gray, concrete wall in front of me, with a huge mirror-like window in the middle of it, just like those in detective films. I turn my head around. There's nothing else inside of this room except for the remaining three walls, a black, steel door and two sound boxes. I try to move, but I'm apparently chained up on the chair. I struggle, maybe I can get out if I just move a lot.

 

A screech coming from the sound boxes, it hurts my ears. But it stops just after seconds and reveals a voice I recognize from before.

 

"Well well, awake at last?"

 

I look around again, trying to find the person talking to me. But as before, nobody's there. It freaks me out a bit, I absolutely don't like this, not one bit. I hear the voice chuckling.

"Who are you!?" I scream, but the voice just laughs harder. I try, once again, to escape my boundaries by moving, but it still doesn't work. Suddenly, the door opens and reveals the same guy who tried to arrest me at school, sunglasses still in place. In his left hand, he holds a chair. He walks over towards the middle of the room, puts the chair not too far away from me and sits on it.

"Remember me?" He says while grinning. From up close, the guy looks like he's around thirty years old, but I'm not sure because his teeth are in terrible state. He also has some grey hair just above his ears. The rest of his hair however is black, short and combed back, a lot of hairspray holding it there.

"I remember you." I say, trying not to sound nervous. He smiles.

"What are you smiling about?!" I'm getting angry, I can feel my teeth growing sharp and see better now. He just keeps on smiling and laughs out loud now.

 

"My, my, look at you. Angry are we? Me? I'm just happy, because we've finally caught you." He stands up and starts to walk around the chair he was sitting on, hands behind his back.

"Took us long enough though, you're a hard 'monster' to find."

 

"I'm not a monster." I say, trying not to growl. He just laughs.

"Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? You don't seem very human to me, just like that friend of yours..." Oh no...

 

"Where is Jiyong!?" I practically scream.

 

"Oh, so that's his name... I don't know, he managed to escape... But don't worry, we'll catch him soon." He jokes. How can he joke like that?

 

"Why are you doing this? Why are you locking innocent people away, they have done nothing wrong?" I yell. He stops and leans over his chair, face just a couple of inches away from mine.

 

"Ah, but YOU are not so innocent are you? Have you forgotten what you did at your old school?" He surprises me with his question. Of course I haven't.

 

"I- we... I- I didn't..."

 

"You didn't what? Do that!? Come on, Seunghyun are you listening to yourself? They've found you, lying in the centre of both badly hurt teens and mutilated corpses. The survivors told us that it was you who did all of that... It's not because you don't remember any of it, that it didn't happen." I turn my head away. What can I possibly say to that? I know he's right. I know I actually deserve to be locked up. But the others don't.

 

"Then why are you doing this to the others? The others that didn't do anything?" I sound a lot calmer than I did before.

 

"Because it's only a matter of time before they do something similar to as what you did!" He yells for the first time. He leans back as he tries to recompose himself. He looks at me again and laughs. Not his previous laugh but a cooler and more terrifying one.

"Look, I don't have to explain anything to you. Now, The guards will take you to your cell, but don't worry... we'll meet again..." He smiles and snaps his fingers. In an instant, the door opens and five or six men in military outfits walk in. They chain my hands and legs, take me by the arms and almost drag me out of the room.

 

We walk through endless white, but decayed, hallways. My arms are getting sore because the guards are gripping them to hard. My feet are off the ground, I'm being carried. Occasionally, they do meet the ground below, probably because they can't hold me anymore. I, however, make no attempt to lift them. Why should I? This way it takes them longer to get me to my cell and it will annoy them. Five minutes later, my feet touch the ground again and I see my chance to give those guards a bit of trouble. I start to move around, trying to get away.

 

I feel something hitting my head. The hallway goes dark and a couple of seconds later, I find myself on the floor, back against the rather dirty looking wall. My head starts to hurt. Shit! What happened? One of the guards lowers himself so he is on my level and put his rubber baton right underneath my chin to lift it up. I growl as I put the pieces together.

 

"Listen here, boy. I don't think you understand what we do here. See, this place is a combination of a prison and a madhouse. You are the 'patients' and we are the staff. Now for the staff's safety, we will not hesitate to use... Well, anything if necessary to keep you monsters in check." He grins. Oh, how I'd like to wipe that stupid smile off his face! I try to get up and attack him. But as soon as I move the other guards are already holding me so I can't move a finger. The guard in front of me takes the rubber baton from under my chin, lifts it up and hit me with it in my left jaw. I can almost feel my cheekbone cracking. It hurts, It hurts like hell... I can taste blood now and I'm pretty sure my nose is bleeding as well. I try not to make any sound, but I know I suck at that. The guard just stands up, looks down and laughs.

"Perhaps I need to mention this. I know that it's forbidden to use any kind of violence on a prisoner by law. But then again one: This place isn't owned by the government so they really don't have anything to say and frankly don't even know what's going on here. Two: Those laws only apply for human being, which, you are not. So think about it next time you plan something." He laughs again and kicks my bad leg. I scream in pain as I feel the wound reopen.

"My, my... Could it be that I did actually shoot you back then? I thought I missed... You should take better care of wounds like that." He laughs and the other guards laugh with him this time. So he's the one who's shot me...

"Pick him up!" He tells the others. They do as he says and lift me of off the floor and continue to carry me through the endless hallways until we arrive at what seems to be my cell.

 

My cell is located at the beginning of a big, but rather dirty looking room. They take of the cuffs around my wrists, but not the ones around my ankles. The cells are made out of four concrete, dirty walls. Only the door is made out of iron bars. The throw me inside and I land face first on the ground, hurting my leg even further in the process. The lock the door behind me, stare at me for a few seconds and then just leave. I take a look around. There's a what seems to be a chair with a hole in the middle, I guess that's the toilet. There are also a couple of wooden benches to sleep on. And... that's about it. No sink, no blankets, no window... Just a flickering light bulb above the door. I try to get up, but it's not an easy thing to do with my leg. I can see blood seeping through my trousers and I'm guessing I'm not getting any bandages. Let's just hope it doesn't get worse or infected.

 

"Pssch!" I hear something. It sounds like a steam pipe, but that's a bit impossible since there's are no pipes here. I change so I can see my environment clearer.

"Pssch!" I hear it again, this time it sound like it's coming from behind me. I turn my head away from the door to look but I can't see anything that could've made a noise like that.

"Pssch! Over here!" I see a hand and a part of an arm now, waving at me. When I look closer I can see that the end of the left wall is also made out of iron bars. I walk over towards it, or at least I try. When I arrive, I'm surprised to find a young guy sitting on the other side of the bars. He has short black hair, looks a bit pale and has an industrial piercing in one of his ears, but looks normal furthermore. Very weird, 'our kind of people' normally look a bit more... different.

"Hey..." He whispers, as if he's afraid to speak out loud. Probably because of the guards.

 

"Hey..." I say back, not knowing what to say otherwise.

 

"You... You sound weird, are you okay?" He asks.

 

"No, They hit me pretty bad... Wait, can't you see that?" I ask. His mouth forms the shape of an 'o'.

 

"Oh, you're one of us? Sorry, I wasn't sure so I made myself look... well you know so I wouldn't scare you. But since that's not necessary and... frankly I really want to be able to see..." Jeez, he talks a lot...

"... I'll just... you know..." And I can see his skin getting even more pale. The colour of his eyes change from dark brown to a mystic purple. Thin, black lines are running crisscross over his face. He looks up a bit and smiles.

"Ah, better... Hello! Wow, you've got some pretty blue eyes!" O-kay...

 

"Hello back and thanks... I guess. I'm Seunghyun." He smiles again.

 

"Hi, I'm Seungri and... Oh, there's-" The hyper boy doesn't finish his sentence, just turns around.

"Hyung, wake up! We've got a new neighbour!" He whispers kind of loud. I can hear a grunt a few seconds later and see another guy entering my view. He looks older than the other one and he's already changed. His hair looks... Well, like two small windpipes and his eyes are very bright yellow. He looks very, very well build.

 

"Oh, sorry, hello. The name's Younbae. Sorry for this little annoying brad here." He puts his hand on the other's head and messes up his short hair. The other one whines in return.

 

"Hyuuu~ng..."

 

"Hi, I'm Seunghyun." I try to smile back, but my jaw hurts too much.

 

"You don't look too good... What happened?" I nod and tell them about the beating and how I got the bullet hole in my leg.

"Wait, when were you shot again?"

 

"A couple of weeks ago, but the wound just keeps reopening..." Yongbae looks like he wants to say something but he's cut off by Seungri.

 

"And you managed to get away from them and hide for over a month?!?"

 

"Yeah, but I had help. While I was running, I ran into a guy like us. He lived in a shackle underneath a bridge, well hidden from everyone." The look at me like they've just seen a ghost.

 

"Under a bridge? What was the guy's name?!" Both of them say out loud.

 

"Jiyong. Wh-" But before I could ask anything, they both grip the iron bars.

 

"Oh. My. God! Is he alright!?" Seungri screams.

 

"D-Don't tell me that you are-" It makes sense now.

 

"How is he? Is he okay?!"

 

"Yes, he managed to get away as far as I know. He's fine." They both calm down after I said that. Or at least for a couple of seconds until Seungri starts crying, which answers another question.

 

"Oh, thank God he's okay!!"

 

"So you're the boyfriend huh?" I ask/state. Seungri stops crying for a moment and looks at me with big eyes.

 

"You know?"

 

"It's kind of hard not to, he won't shut up about you." I say softly and smile in the meantime. Seungri tries to stop crying and smiles back at me. Yongbae, also clearly more relaxed, puts a hand on the other's shoulder and looks at me.

 

"Let's talk" And he smiles as well.


	9. Locked up 2

It's night by the time we finish our introduction, or at least Yongbae claims it is because he can smell their upcoming meal. The guy's nose is pretty good. He looks very well build and doesn't wear a shirt... Ever. He tells me he never feels cold since the day he first changed. He also tells me that he's stronger than most of us and that he can bend soft metals as well, which made the guards a bit desperate in the beginning because he kept breaking out. But now, unfortunately, the cell's door is reinforced with some pretty decent and strong material. He's also capable of changing his skin tone a bit to hide better.

I tell him he looks a bit like a bull with the hair and his mussels and he just laughs, telling me that's the first time somebody told him that. Ji had another name for him: Taeyang, since his eyes look like the sun. He tells me it's fine to call him that as well. Seungri interrupts and says Ji calls him Riri... Riri? Ji, seriously? You and your nicknames... 

Speaking of Seungri, it seems that the black lines on Seungri's face move faster when he gets excited (from talking). He tells me his 'special power' is the cold and some psychic stuff as well, although the latter still seems to be a dormant power most of the time. The cold thing however is under control, he says. He takes my hands in his and indeed, they feel like ice. 

"Hyung's hand feel like ice as well." He says, smiling a little.

"Yeah, I know..." I whisper. I just realise, we've been talking out loud for the past hour and it seems like that's not a big problem. Seungri looks at me.

"So, what are your special powers?" 

"Well, I'm faster than the rest, a bit stronger and have an excellent vision during the day as well as during the night..."

"...That's it?" Seungri looks a bit disappointed.

"Um, yeah. I mean, I know that people like us can see fairly well at night, are a bit stronger and faster than normal, but I mean I'm better in comparison to you... And I have a nice pair of fangs and some sharp nails... Oh and I can see all your veins running through your body..." I just state that last part, it sounds like I'm talking about the weather or something. Seungri backs up a bit, looking somewhat scared.

"Jeez, you're a vampire..." Again with the vampire thing. 

"Seungri, vampires don't exist..." Yongbae claims behind him.   
"Besides, you can walk in the sun right?" he asks, to make sure no doubt.

"Yeah, no problem... And I don't drink blood, believe me, I tried... But then, what am I, what... Are we?" I ask in a tiny voice. Seungri looks at Yongbae but the latter just shakes his head.

"I... don't know..." He answers, eyes cast downwards. Seungri turns his head and looks at me with big puppy eyes.

"Maybe, we're like the x-men." I look at him for a couple of seconds and start to laugh.

"You sound just like Dae..." 

"Dae?"

"Daesung, my bo -best friend... He knows about me..." I tell them the entire story, from the 'disaster' in the lavatory to the day I was caught...

"So, you got hit by a car and got shot afterwards?" 

"No, I... One of the guards told me he shot me... Look, I don't remember getting shot but when I look at the wound on my leg, It makes sense. The gap the car made is gone, but there's still a hole left..." I put my hand on my leg, trying to stop the pain. It won't heal... Why does it take so long to heal? I guess the guards won't give me anything to make it heal faster. Come to think of it, they don't seem to be as cruel as I thought they would be. 

"Hey, do they... The guards, do they ever... Hurt you?" I ask. Yongbae looks at me and shakes his head again.

"They take us away for some tests and research sometimes, but they don't really hurt us, not on purpose anyway." 

"Some tests are a little more painful than others, but I can't say they really hurt..." Seungri adds.  
"It's not like they torture you or something like that..."

"Yeah, well. They don't really like me..." Speaking of the devil, two guards suddenly enter our hallway. They stop right in front of Seungri and Yongbae's door. One of the guards opens a small hatch on the underside of the door while the other shoves a serving plate inside and they both leave without saying anything. On the plate there's some bread and orange juice. Wait, why bring them food?

It seems I said that last part out loud as they both look at me at the same time. Seungri laughs.

"Yeah, you and I don't need to eat, but apparently hyung needs it to keep his temperature high. Or so the doctor says..." 

"Doctor?" I ask.

"Yeah, there's always a doctor when they perform tests on us. She's not like the others, she's nice and kind. Hyung here has a crush on her..." Seugri grins and points at Yongbae.

"I do not! She... she's nice to me, so I'm being nice as well... Like... like society wants me to be..." He blushes and both Seungri and I laugh.

"Yeah, whatever." He turns into a new deep red as Seungri continues to joke. 

"Haha, okay but seriously now, you don't change when you eat?" I ask and Yongbae's pout seems to disappear.

"Nope, can't stand liquid though..." I'm about to ask why they gave him the orange juice if that's the case, but Seungri senses my next question, holds his one hand up and takes the orange juice into the other. He picks up the knife on the plate and puts it in the middle of the glass. He closes his eyes in concentration and tells me to keep my eyes on the orange juice. In an instant, the juice freezes. Seungri releases the knife and it stays upright in the glass. He opens his eyes again and looks at me.

"He needs ice to keep himself cool and with my powers..." No need for further explanations. He gives the juice to Yongbae who forces it out of its glass.

"So, you if can change water into ice... Can you make it snow?"

"Well, I would need to touch every single drop of water falling from the sky, but if I could get my psychic powers under control... I guess yes..." 

"Then, how did you notice you have psychic powers as well?"

"I could sometimes talk to people without saying anything... Oh, and when we first got here, they kept our door's key on that table in the hallway. After hyung's breakout attempts, I tried to move the key with my mind and it worked. Unfortunately, a guard was standing next to the table at the moment..." I want to ask more questions, but I'm interrupted as a group of guards enter our hallway and stop right in front of my cell.

"Prisoner 113 is needed for some tests, place your hands through the opening of the door." One of the guard practically yells. I can see cuffs in his hands. I don't want to, I'm scared of what they'll do to me. Yongbae takes my hand in his and whispers.

"Do as they say or they'll force you out of your cell. Relax, nothing bad will happen." Yeah, then why do I have such a bad feeling? But I guess I have no choice. I get up, trying not to hurt my leg in the process, and walk over towards the door. They cuff my hands and open the door. Four of them take my by the arm and drag me across the huge building. Maybe, they just want to scare us so we'll cooperate. Maybe they indeed only want to perform some tests on us, to find a cure.

We stop in front of a big, iron door. One of the guards that's not carrying me walks towards in and opens it. When I see what's inside, my previous thoughts disappear and are replaced with fear.


	10. Pain

The room looks like the room they put me in when I first got here. Only darker and dirtier. I can see chains attached to the walls, handcuffs and some other pointy things that would hurt a lot. There's also a table standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by a couple of chairs. On the table, I can see tools lying. Tools that I don't want to see. 

One of the guards pushes me inside. My leg is still in such a bad state that I can't keep myself standing up and I crash onto the floor. 

"Get up!" The guard that pushed me yelled, but I can't. Not when my leg is like this and definitely not when my hands are chained. The guy grabs my hair and pulls it, hard. It hurts, but I just can't get up on my own. I can hear him sigh behind me and a few seconds later, I'm being pulled up. I'm too afraid to look at him, so I don't. However, he makes me by grabbing my hair again, so I have to turn my head around.   
"Look, either you do as we say and this won't have to be an... unpleasant experience, or don't cooperate and... well, just know that the boss said we are allowed to do anything to get the answers we want..." I'm keeping my eyes on the floor but I can feel him looking at me and it makes me shiver. Who is this boss guy? Why does he wants me that bad?   
"Sit." He says calmly, his finger pointing at the chair. I do as I'm being told even though I can barely walk. He sits on the chair on the other side of the table. The other guards are still standing at the door. There's a mirror hanging behind him. I know it's not really a mirror, it's a window. I wonder if there's anyone watching from behind.  
"Okay, let's talk shall we? First, we're not the kind of facility that keeps friends apart, so why won't you tell us where we can find that Jiyong guy, hu?" I knew this was coming. Of course they want to know where he is. I didn't however expected this question just yet. Normally, they'd ask my name to confirm it was really me. But then, this isn't what you can call a normal situation. 

I'm not telling, however, and for the first time I look right into his eyes. I'm still in my human form, but I try to look strong, unafraid, although that's not the case, far from it...  
"Seunghyun, I told you before: you better cooperate... Where's Jiyong?" He says, still calm but rather annoyed by my silence. I keep my mouth shut while staring at him. After a couple of seconds he closes his eyes and sigh. He opens them again and nods at one of the guards standing at the door. The guy walks towards me, and pauses when he's standing next to me. I don't look at him, I'm afraid to.

When his fist connects with my cheek, I try not to make a sound while my head turns almost 90 degrees. It hurts, it really hurts. Especially because he's wearing a ring. I can feel my cheekbone almost cracking.   
"Where's Jiyong?" He asks again. I turn my head to look at him again. I'm not going to give up just because they punch me, I can't do that. 

The guard punches me again every time I don't answer. I'm pretty sure that my cheekbone will be broken if he doesn't stop soon. Something tickling my cheeks as well, something hot and wet, blood no doubt. He asks again, but I'm not going to say anything and he knows it. I close my eyes and wait for the next punch... but it never comes. Instead, the door opens and reveals the guard that interrogate me when I first got here.   
"Okay, enough of that, I'll take it from here." He says. The other guard looks at him and then at me and sighs but nods anyway. He looks at me again, rather sad.

"You should've told us when you had the chance kid..." Then, he stands up and leaves with the others so there's only me and the creep left. He looks at me and grins. 

"He's right, you know. I'm not nearly as friendly as he is... So, last chance... Where is he?" He's still standing at least a couple of metres away from me, hands behind his back. I look at him the same way I've looked at the other guard, only this time I change so I look even more threatening. Or so, I try to but it's not really working. He just laughs.  
"Oooh scary..." He says, mocking me. I'm done playing this game.

"If you're so keen on keeping friends together, then where's Daesung?" I say, growling.

"Oh, it speaks... Tell you what, if you tell me where we can find Jiyong, I'll tell you where your friend is." He comes closer so he's standing right next to my chair. 

"You wish." I say, realising that this will not end well the same time the words leave my mouth. His smile disappears of his face and he grabs me by the arm and pulls me up. He has quite a strong grip and I can feel his nails digging into my upper arm. I'm pushed against the wall and the guy wastes no time to chain up my handcuffs so that they're hanging above my head. I'm forced to stand up which hurts. I the process of being chained, my head meets the wall, giving me a headache. The guard grabs me by the chin and forces me to look at him. He looks fairly angry, teeth showing. 

"I tried to be nice. I was even prepared to make you a deal... But you just keep on staying stubborn. Well, I'll make you tell me where that demon looking friend of yours is, but you'll get nothing if not pain in return now. So either you tell me, or I'll make you regret the fact that you didn't want to cooperate. Last chance: Where. Is. Jiyong?" But I don't say a thing, only bare my fangs to growl at him. He takes a few steps back so he's standing against the table and grins shortly. He grabs a whip from the table and inspects it.   
"Fine, have it your way..." The first blow hits me in the chest. It rips both my shirt and my skin. I try not to scream at the pain, but he keeps whipping me and I fail to do so. 

The next... hour or so, I can't really tell, happens in a blur. Between the hitting he keeps asking me where Ji is, but I'm in so much pain that, even if I'd wish to tell, I can't. After a while, the whip makes place of a knife. I can feel the skin of my arm split open underneath the knife. It continues like that for a while at by the end, I'm in so much pain, I'm blacking out for short periods of time. The one thing that makes me fall unconscious completely is when I can feel a blunt object digging into the wound of my leg.

_***_

_I'm standing in a field of blue flowers. The weather is nice and warm, only a soft breeze is making the millions of flowers dance a bit. There's a tree standing in the middle of the enormous field and suddenly I feel tired. I walk towards the tree, my leg doesn't hurt anymore. I sit down, back against the tree's trunk and close my eyes._

_"Hyung's getting old." I turn my head in surprise when I hear Dae's voice. He looks happy. His slightly wavy brown hair is moving in sync with the flowers and he smiles at me._

_"I'm not that old." I pout, jokingly. He laughs and sits down next to me, staring at nothing in front of him._

_"Then why are you tired?" He asks, looking at me. He's so beautiful._

_"Because I'm always chasing after you. It's like I'm never able to catch you." I whisper, my voice sounding somewhat sad. He shakes his head and smiles slightly. When he stands up he takes my hands and pulls me up with him. I'm about to ask him what he's doing but before I can, he puts my arms around his back and hugs me._

_"Well, you caught me now..." My eyes widen and I hug him back, tears slowly making their way up my eyes.  
"But you're still sad, why?" He asks as the first tears leave my eyes. _

_"Because I'll lose you again..."_

__***

It was a dream, of course it was. I'm slowly regaining consciousness, unfortunately. I can feel the memories of what really happened coming back as well as the pain and I let out a groan. A hand suddenly touching my forehead startles me and I try to get away. 

"Shhh it's okay, you're okay now..." A soft, kind female voice tells me. I try to open my eyes, but it's difficult. When my eyes are finally adjusted to the light, I can see a young, nice woman sitting next to my bed, smiling softly at me. Where am I? I look and see a bright, clean white room behind the woman as well as a door and some blinded windows.   
"You're in the infirmary." She says. 

"Y-you're the nice doctor Yongbae told me about..." I say, sounding somewhat groggy. She blushes and smiles kindly at me.

"Well, I don't know about the nice part but I'm the only doctor here so..." She takes a glass filled with water and puts it to my lips.  
"Here, you must be thirsty..." I am and I take a deep breath, which was a mistake because I can feel the wounds on my chest reopen.   
"Oh, careful now..." She says, taking the glass away before I have the chance to drink any of the water. I look at my body. I'm wearing trousers, the rest is practically covered in bandages.

"My leg..."

"Yeah, took care of it as well. It was in a pretty bad shape, but I was able to remove the bullet. I closed the wound, but I'm afraid I can't keep it from scarring..." She looks apologetic.

"Why are y-you so nice to me?" I ask, wondering. She looks surprised with my question.

"Why won't I be?" 

"Because you're working HERE." I say, slightly angry. She smiles sadly and turns away. 

"Believe me, if I could I wouldn't, but... They won't hire me at a normal hospital because I made a mistake and I have 3 kids to feed so..." Maybe I was a bit too harsh.

"Sorry..." I whisper. She turns her head and smiles sadly at me.

"I'm sorry as well... You better get some rest, otherwise those wounds won't heal." She leaves the room and I find myself falling asleep rather well. I don't dream this time. Maybe that's a good thing. I'll only wake up unhappy anyway. 

When I wake up again, there's a hand on one of my hands. Yongbae was right, she's a very kind doctor that doesn't deserve to be here. I can't help but to feel she's somewhat like us, imprisoned. The hand suddenly interlaces our fingers. Wait a minute, that's not a female hand. My eyes snap open and what I see makes me believe I'm in a dream again.

"Dae?"


	11. Together

**"Dae?"**

 

My first reaction is to sit up, which isn't a wise thing to do if you're injured. I don't care though, not when Dae is sitting right next to me. Is this a dream? I'm pretty sure it's not but... He smiles at my surprised face, but I can see his eyes are red and there are tear stains visible on his cheeks.

 

"Hyung..." His voice cracks as he speaks. The smile disappears and I can see he's on the verge of crying again. Why? Is he hurt? Did they do something?!

 

"Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" I ask, and I try to lift my hands so I can touch his face, but my arms won't cooperate. He probably felt me trying to move them because he lifts them up and brings them to his chest. He smiles again, weakly this time and shakes his head.

 

"Shouldn't I be the one asking those questions, hyung?" He says softly.

 

"I'm fine, really. Dae, did... did they do anything to you?" I'm afraid to ask, just because I don't want to know the answer if they indeed mistreat him. He shakes his head again.

 

"They treat me well. They gave me a room with some books and a TV. I get three meals a day and..." He stops and looks away.

 

"And?" I ask. When he looks back at me I can see fresh tears pooling in his eyes.

 

"Hyung I'm so sorry. Someone saw you the day before you were taken. He informed them and they made me bait..."

 

"It's not your fault, I should've known it was a trap... Still, I'm somewhat happy I get to see you again." I say, smiling. Or at least I try to smile, but it's not an easy thing to do when your jaw got almost broken. He's crying now, sobbing almost as I try not to show him that I'm in pain, but fail. I lift my hand from his hand up his face. It takes a moment, but in the end I'm able to do so. I cup his cheek, swiping away the tears that continue to fall. Tears are forming in my eyes as well. I can't stand to see him sad like this. He should be happy, always.

"You know, you should stop crying, you're gorgeous when you smile..." I say, and too late I realise it sounds a bit weird. But I really don't care because he is smiling now. Well, smiling and crying at the same time anyway. He grabs my hand again, but doesn't take it away from his cheek.

 

"Hyung is always worried about me, but hyung should worry about himself more often." Daesung whispers, looking at the sheets of the bed instead of me. I lift my other hand up as well, trying to make him look at me and not at the sheets, but before I'm able to do so, Daesung pulls me in a hug. I freeze, because it's a different kind of hug this time. It's a tighter, more intimate one this time. His hands are slightly grabbing my shoulder, head hidden in my neck. I can feel his hot breathe and I'm suddenly very aware of the position we're in. I'm not supposed to think about this, not now and definitely not _here_ , but I can't ignore my feeling. Not any longer. I should tell him, now that I have the chance. But what if he... doesn't feel the same way as I do? How will he react?

"Hyung..."

 

I didn't realise I'm gripping his back until now. I release him and back out a little. Instead of looking at him I look at his collar bones. I should be more careful or he'll notice. Maybe that's a good thing, right? But what if he hates me for it?

 

I'm pulled from my daydreaming by his face coming into view. God, he's cute and his face is _so_ close to mine. I could easily kiss him right now... But I won't, I _can't_... And I hate myself for loving him when I shouldn't. It hurts, badly.

 

"Hyung?" My focus changes on his eyes as I hear him call me. I can feel tears threatening to spill over and I now know why he's looking worried at me. I lift my hand to wipe away my tears but Daesung beats me to it. His hands are so warm.

 

"Hyung, why are you crying? Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?" He asks, voice filled with worry. I shake my head and fake a small smile to ensure him, but it seems he's not falling for it. Confusion is written on his face.

"Then why?" He asks, releasing my head while backing up a bit. I can feel a blush coming up and I turn my head away.

 

Oh god, how I wish you would just notice. Just notice without me saying anything. What I feel, how I feel for you. It would make everything easier. Even if you don't feel the same way... I just wish that... that I was strong enough to tell you that... _I love you_...

 

It takes me a while to calm myself and look up and when I finally do, I wish I didn't. Daesung's eyes are open in shock while his cheeks show a blush.

 

"Hyung!" He says, a bit loud with one hand covering his mouth. Shit, _Shit!_ Don't tell me I just said all of that... out loud. No, crap! Oh no, now what?! What do I do, what do I say? He wasn't suppose to find out, not now, not ever! It was a mistake to think he would be okay with this. Daesung's face looks calmer now, less shocked but not happy. He reaches out, why? He's going to hit me! I need to get away.

 

But unfortunately, I forget that I'm still sitting on a bed, a hospital bed while being injured as a matter of fact, and those things aren't really that big. In my haste to get away I place one of my hands behind me, on a surface that isn't really there. I crash with a loud bang. Lucky for me, my arms hit the floor before my head did. I can feel a couple of wounds reopen, they hurt but it's manageable.

 

"Hyung!" I see Daesung running towards me. He grabs me before I get the chance to run, or rather crawl, away.

"Are you okay?" he looks worried again and it confuses me, angers me. Why is he acting all worried if he's not accepting my feelings? He reaches out again, gently this time. I move back and push his hand away. I don't need fake caring, not now.

"Hyung, what are you- "

 

"You don't have to pretend to care when you're clearly disgusted!" I scream. My voice is reaching its limits and it cracks. It's Daesung who looks confused this time.

 

"Why would you think that? I'm not!"

 

"Don't lie, I saw the way you looked at me!" I snap and I can feel tears leaving my eyes at a high speed.

 

"How I looked? Hyung, you didn't give me the chance to say anything after what you said."

 

"I shouldn't have told you, because I know it's weird and wrong and... And-d even if you... you... W-why would you love... _me_?" I'm sobbing now, hiding my face in my hands. Oh I hate to be this weak. I just can't do anything but cry right now. And I'm so absorbed in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the fact that Daesung got closer. I look up and before I can say or do anything, Daesung hugs me tight and I can feel him laugh slightly.

 

"Hyung can be so stupid sometimes..." Daesung leans back and smiles at me, teeth showing a bit. He pushes my bangs out of my eyes and leans forward again. Our faces are only a few inches apart.

"Close your eyes." He says softly and I do as I'm told. My eyes open again immediately as I feel a pair of lips on mine. He's kissing me. _Kissing me!_ I can't believe this is happening! It feels great, even better than I could ever imagine.

 

We part after a couple of seconds, though felt like minutes. He's blushing like mad. I'm sure I am as well. He... he likes me?

 

"Wha- how?" I stutter, my ability to speak clearly lost now. Daesung on the other hand just chuckles. He's not looking at me, he's looking at his lap while fumbling with one of his shirt's buttons.

 

"That's why I said that hyung van be so stupid sometimes. I... I liked you from the moment we met. I like spending time with you, you're not like anyone else... When I first saw you when you were changed, I wasn't scared like most people. I thought you looked so handsome... I was planning to tell you how I felt at the birthday party, but then..." He looks away, still blushing but rather sad.

"When you told me, I... I couldn't believe my ears... I was so afraid to tell you and I was just said because I didn't have the guts to do so sooner..." It makes sense now, in a way. Because I understand everything he just said. It looks like we felt the same way.

 

"Guess we're both stupid, huh." I joke. I'm not too sure it came out right since my voice is still a mess, but then Daesung smiles so I figure it's okay. He looks at me again.

 

"Yeah..." his expression shows happiness. I smile back at him while trying to clear my face from tears... again.

"You know, hyung is also even more gorgeous when he smiles." Daesung says, feeding me with my own sappy lines. I can't help but to laugh though. He lifts his arms and pushes my hands away so he can clean any remaining tearstains by himself.

 

"I'm such a mess... Sorry..."

 

"After everything that happened I think hyung is doing fantastic." He smiles somewhat sadly at his own comment. I almost forgot what happened. How can I not when there's a smiling angel sitting in front of me.

 

"Dae... Can I... kiss you again?" I ask in an unsure voice.

 

"Of course." I don't waste any time and kiss him, a little harder this time. I feel his hands clinging on my shirt after a few moments, encouraging me to deepen the kiss. I lick his bottom lip, asking him to part his lips. The reaction is almost immediate and I'm allowed entrance.

 

I don't know how long we're at it, but I can hear moans coming from Daesung right now. Our hands are busy touching each other's hair, arms and back. By the time Daesung is fumbling with my hospital gown however the door opens and I can hear the doctor calling my name. We abruptly end the kiss and stare at each other, hoping that the other one knows what to do. Daesung is the first one to recover and he stands up.

 

"He... He fell off his bed." He says towards the door. I can hear the doctor making a noise of understanding in return. He crouches back down and helps me stand up. We're pretty lucky we were sitting behind the bed, otherwise she would've known what was going on in an instant. When I'm back on the bed, the doctor's already standing next to me.

 

"You should be more careful or those wounds won't heal..." I nod while apologising.

"Unfortunately it's time for Daesung to return to his room." She says with a pitiful expression. I look at her and then Daesung. He looks sad but nods. Why is he agreeing?

 

"Wait, can't he stay?" She looks at me and sighs.

 

"I'm sorry, I tried to make the guards change their minds, but... It's best to do as you're told."

 

"I know, thank you for today." Daesung bows and when he comes back up I can see tears in his eyes. He comes over and hugs me. I don't want him to go. Why can't he stay?

 

"Don't go." I whisper- beg in his ear, tears threatening to spill over again. I can feel his hands gripping my back in return before he releases me. He hides his face in his hands, turns around and leaves the room. I'm left with the doctor, feeling empty again. She looks at me, apologetic and I turn my head because I don't want her to see me like this.

 

"I'm so sorry..." She says and I nod, because I know she really is. She rubs my back, trying to make me feel better and it works... Somewhat.

 

After a few moments the silence is broken as I hear her getting up, taking a few things from the cupboard next to the door and coming back.

 

"We need to patch you up again..." She says, turning my head so I look at her again. I nod and she starts cleaning the re-opened wounds right away. There's a comfortable silence until she decides to talk.

"I'm sorry for earlier..."

 

"Earlier?"

 

"I was clearly interrupting the two of you making out." My eyes widen, how can she tell?

 

"How did you know?" She looks up from her work and gives me a 'come on'-look.

 

"Daesung came up a little too fast while blushing like mad and then you did as well looking as red as a tomato." She chuckles and I'm sure I'm as red as a tomato now as well.

"Oh, and you kept saying his name when you were sleeping as well, so I figured you wanted to see him and I asked one of the guards. After a while he consented..." She smiles.

 

"Thank you." I say.

 

"You're welcome. Now, get some sleep okay?" She says, cleaning up her tools. I nod and close my eyes. It doesn't take long for me to fall asleep and sleep better than I did in, what feels like years.


	12. Interlude

When I wake up again, I can see the doctor standing next to the door, talking to three guards. She seems slightly upset but they're whispering, so I don't know what they are discussing. The guards don't look so pleased, that's about the only thing I can tell. They say something, again way too silent for me to hear. The doctor looks said but nods. She turns around and walk towards me. 

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid they're going to take you back to your cell. I tried to reason with them, telling them you need more time to heal... but they won't listen... I'm truly sorry..." She sounds apologetic. Bowing down a bit. She's way too kind to work here. She deserves a better job and a better life... And more 'normal' patients. 

"You shouldn't be. Thank you for stitching me up... and for Daesung..." I whisper. She smiles somewhat creepy at that. Okay, what a sudden turn.

"You know, I kind of pissed them off with that... and it feels kind of good as well." I see now, how she tries to help us, how she manages to stay sane in this place. Behind the nice doctor facade, lies a woman who can take on the world.   
"But I'm really sorry about the fact that I can't keep them from taking you back to your cell..." She adds.

"Don't worry, I'll manage..." She nods, smiles faintly and moves away from the bed to pick up my shirt. 

"You know, you're stronger than you think." She helps me put on my shirt, but that's about it as the guards come closer.  
"Try not to move too much, okay?" She says quickly, looking rather worried. The guards pick me up by the arms and lift me from the bed. I wonder however, if I'm able to stand up. But my thoughts are quickly interrupted by the fact that apparently I can't. One of the guards must have let me go and I meet the ground, again. It seems that all I'm doing these days is falling down and getting myself hurt. I can hear the doctor asking the guards to be more careful, but they don't care. Why should they? In their eyes, I'm only a monster. They carry me (well, they drag me...) out of the infirmary back into the dirty looking hallways. Honestly, I thing the only clean room in this place is that infirmary. 

It doesn't take them long to reach my cell. They open the door and throw me in. I'm not cuffed. It's not necessary because I can barely move, let alone try to escape or something. This time however, I manage to stay up. Well, stay up while stumbling and limping to the closed wall anyway. I can hear the door being closed behind me with a loud bang followed by footsteps walking away. 

I sigh and slide towards the floor, not able to keep myself up any longer. My leg still feels like it got shot just yesterday. I'm not sure anymore if it's ever going to heal. But again my thoughts are interrupted, now by a worried Seungri. 

"Hyung? Seunghyun-hyung!? Are you there?" Seungri whispered. He can't see me because I'm sitting next to our joint wall. He's putting his hands trough the bars however, trying to get my attention it seems. I crawl towards the bars and when I finally reach them, I can read the horror from his face. He moves back a bit and turns his head.  
"Taeyang-hyung!!" He shouts and it takes only a few moments for Yongbae to enter my view. 

"Jeeez, why are you s-- Oh my god, what happened?!?" He screams equally loud as Seungri when he finally sees me.   
"Are you okay, how did this happen?!" He demands rather than ask. I just tell them about the torture and the infirmary. While I do so, Seungri ends up almost in tears and Yongbae tries to keep his feeling in check while trying to be supportive. When I'm done explaining, there's a silence, a moment were Seungri tries to pick himself up again and Yongbae tries not to be upset. He's the first to speak after a couple of minutes.  
"You know, you've been through hell, you seem to cope pretty well... almost too well..." He mutters.

"It wasn't that bad... Sure it hurt but... it's not the first time people hurt me... Oh and maybe I'm okay because I saw Daesung." I reply. The reaction to my reply is almost immediate. 

"You saw him?" Seungri marvels. 

"Yeah, not only that... I told him about my feelings as well..." I state softly and turn my head to look at them. They are both staring at me like I'm a ghost. Yongbae is the first to recover. 

"How did it go?" He whispers, as if afraid of the answer. Instead of saying anything, I smile.

"Hyung, that's great!!" Seungri yells. I tell them about the doctor, about how she noticed that I liked him, about the kiss.  
"Oh my god, hyung I'm really happy for you!" They're both smiling brightly at me and for a moment, I forget my pain. We are so happy that none of us hear the guard coming in, bringing Yongbae's food. It isn't until the hatch on their door closes with a loud band that we stop smiling and act more natural. Yongbae moves back, sitting next to the plate and picks up the rice with his chopsticks, bringing them towards his mouth. Seungri stays with me and keeps smiling. 

"I'm happy as well... but I wish he was allowed to stay with me..." I realise my voice sounds very sad in my own ears. I only saw him yesterday and...  
"I already miss him..." Seungri puts his right hand trough the bars and pats my arm. I look up to see a face that was smiling just seconds ago, but now looks sad.

"I know..." A simple statement makes me realise that if there's anyone who knows how it feels like, it's him. He spend months apart from Ji...   
"But at least he's safe... Hey, how was the doctor?" Seungri tries to change the subject, which is nice. 

"Rather well." I look at Yongbae who's still eating, though looking back at us now, brows expressing curiosity.   
"Oh, when I told her that Yongbae said she looks nice, she blushed. She seems very fond of you!" I joke. I works. As soon as the words leave my mouth, food leaves Yongbae's with great speed. He's as red as a tomato. Seungri on the other hand can't stop laughing. We joke for some time, mostly to embarrass Yongbae, until I'm getting tired. I try not to yawn, but it seems that Seungri notices anyway. He tells me to go to sleep. I should, I really should. I'm still injured, something I notice when I try to limp towards the bench. 

When I'm finally on the bench and said goodnight to the both of them, I close my eyes. I try to sleep, but it's easier said than done. Everything is aching and I can't stop thinking about Dae. My mind is filled with thoughts. How is he? Are we ever getting out of here? Is he still alright? When will I see him again...

_***_

_I'm back at the infirmary. The walls look even more white that the previous time. I look around, but the doctor isn't here. There's only the bed standing in the middle of the room. No cupboards, no nothing... only the bed and a window._

_Wait... I can't remember seeing a window._

_I make my way over to the window. I look outside and see and endless field and hills, covered in daisies. In the middle of the field stands Dae. He's looking this way, but not at me. I knock on the glass, but it's like he can't hear it. I knock again. No result._

_Out of nowhere, a guard turns up standing a couple of metres behind him. The guard is caring a knife. I knock on the window again, trying to warn Dae. But it's no use, he can't hear me. The guard steps closer and I start to bang on the window, shouting, almost crying. Why can't he hear it? Dae! The guards is standing only a few centimetres behind him as he lifts the knife. No, nonononono DAE!!!_

_***_

I wake up, immediately sitting up, hurting everything in the process. I can feel my cheeks are covered with tears and sweat. I really hate nightmares. I taste blood, I must have changed while sleeping and bit my own lips. Shit. I turn my head around to look at the other cell. I see nothing, I only hear soft snores coming from the other room, which means they are sleeping. 

I try to sleep again, but it's impossible. The rest of the night, I'm twisting and turning, failing to fall asleep once more, wishing it was morning already. But when morning finally comes, I wish it was night again as I hear footsteps coming from the hallway. It's never a good sign and it's too early for Yongbae's meal. The footsteps stop and I look up to find a couple of guards standing in front of my door.  
"113, step forward and put your hands trough the opening." One of the guards demands. I do as I'm told because I'm in no condition to fight if necessary. I'm not sure where they're taking me. The only thing I am sure of is that I'm not going to like it.


	13. Revelation

**"113, step forward and put your hands trough the opening." One of the guards demands. I do as I'm told because I'm in no condition to fight if necessary. I'm not sure where they're taking me. The only thing I am sure of is that I'm not going to like it.**

I'm being dragged across the hallway once again. The guards are taking a different route this time. The hallway looks the same though.

 

I'm trying not to think about what's going to happen soon. Instead, I'm trying to make some escape plans. Trying, because I'm not near smart enough to come up with good ideas. But I got to try. We can't stay here. If they are capable of torturing us, they are also capable of killing us. Truth is, I won't mind if they kill me, I kind of deserve it... But Seungri, Taeyang and the other innocent people don't. Least of all Daesung...

 

I don't get to make plans for long however. The guards stop in front of a double steel door and opens them. The room is large, gray and rather bright. As I'm being dragged in, I can see that there are a lot of machines standing at the opposite side, machines I don't know. They appear to be made for hospitals, but then again, I can't be sure.

 

I'm being chained to the ground this time. I makes me bend over. Even without any torturing, staying in this position for too long will hurt. I turn my head around, but apart from the machines,  a balcony and a door on the other side, the room is empty. There's also a window near the ceiling, but the room is way  too high to reach it.

 

Surprisingly, the guards walk out of the room, leaving me alone. I can't say I'm not glad for some alone time, but frankly, I'm not sure it's a good thing either.

 

My solitude is short-lived as the door on the balcony opens and shows a young, blond man dressed in white. I'm shocked for a few moments as the only blond person I know is Jiyong, but the hair on the man's head is combed back and held in place with hairspray. Just like the other guard. I change so I can see his features better since he's standing quite far from me.

 

As soon as I see his face clearer, I can hear myself gasp. His face is badly mutilated. There are scars running crisscross over his face. One of his eyes is clearly fake and his upper lip was once split in two parts. But apart from that, he looked very young, mid twenties max.

 

He stops and puts his hands on the handrail before him, supporting his weight on them. He smiles at me, or so I think. It's clearly not a kind smile.

 

"My my, look what the cat dragged in... Seunghyun, long time no see..." Wait, I saw him before? I can't remember. Is he one of the guards?

"Well, I have to say I didn't recognize you at first, with you being slim and good-looking..." He- he knew me when I was... I really can't remember...

 

"Who are you?" I haven't spoken today so my voice breaks at the end. He laughs.

 

"Hahaha who? Haha, seriously, Seunghyun? I'm hurt... I know I might look different now, with the scars and all... But hey, that's your doing!" Oh my god...

 

"You?!" I recognise him now. He's the leader, one of bullies I... didn't kill...

 

"Yes, me! Who else looks like this?!" His voice wasn't calm anymore.

 

"H-how did you...?" How did he what? What was I going to ask?

 

"How? That's quite simple don't you think? See, let me tell you a story. When they first found out that those test went wrong, they set up a special force to examine the kids and how they evolved, fearing that they would develop certain conditions, illnesses... Not monsters. That's why, until you went nuts, no-one was searching for things like you." He smiles again, just for a second before looking at me angry.

"You see, after your attack, I had to stay in the hospital for what seems like years. I was interrogated by the force and learned all about them. After my release I quit school and joined them. The board was weak, even after the attack. So I made sure my... abilities were noticed and soon, I joined the board. I also made sure I had a quite a few followers, so I became head of the force rather quickly. After that,... I think you already know..."

 

"You started to hunt us..." It was clear now how the damn force suddenly became... insane. Well, he's insane. He doesn't care about others like me, it's just a cover.

"But your motives are different than what you've told the rest of the board, aren't they? You only wanted to catch me to make me pay for what I did to you..." I can see him smirk, he releases the rail and starts pacing around, frequently looking back at me.

 

"That might be so, but I don't plan on releasing the rest of you any time soon. Not only so I won't blow my cover. You've made friends and I know that I have to get to them if I want to get to you, that's how I caught you in the first place." I glare at him, showing my teeth. He probably can't see it though, since he's pretty far away and only has one good eye left.

"So that brings me to our first point on the agenda: you're going to tell me where I can find that Jiyong friend of yours..."

 

I know he was going to ask that. It's pretty obvious since that's why they tortured me in the first place. Well, that and to get back at me for almost killing him of course. But it doesn't matter, they can try whatever they want, torturing me or even killing me, I won't tell him where Jiyong is. I never had any guts to do anything, I always tried to stay out of any kind of conflict, never really getting angry or anything. But I'm done with playing nice. I'm done with all of it. I'm not going to let other people get into trouble because of me. I deserve this, they don't.

 

"Screw you." I manage to say calmly despite my anger. The response is the same as always: a smirk.

 

"Yeah, I have to give it to you, you grew some balls since the last time I saw you. However, I knew you were going to say that so let's welcome our first guest." He picks up a radio and holds it in front of his deformed mouth.

"Bring her in." The door underneath the balcony opens and reveals the doctor, looking very stressed out.

"I take it you two already met."

 

"Please s-sir, there's no need for this." She croaks.

 

"Shut up! Don't you dare to..." He snaps, but calms down rather fast.

"Listen, don't you forget that it's because of me that you still have a job. What are you going to do if you're fired, huh? You still have children to feed..." He's blackmailing her and I can't help here. She doesn't deserve this, whatever she did. She picks up a syringe off of one of the machines and walks towards me.

"Now, where's Jiyong?"

 

"Like I said, screw you!" The doctor is standing next to me now and looks at me with pity.

 

"Please Seunghyun, just tell him. You don't want me to inject this." She whispers, eyes watering. But I just shake my head.

 

"Do it, doctor!" He yells while smiling. I'm really sure I don't want that weird yellow looking fluid in my veins, but I just can't betray Ji.

 

"I'm so s-sorry..." She's crying as she injects whatever's in the syringe.

 

"It's not your fault." I whisper and wait for what's coming. For a couple of moments I don't feel a thing. That is until a searing pain sets in my right arm. It spreads and fast. The pain is practically unbearable and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to scream. But it's a battle I'm going to lose. Around wounds, the pain is even worse. When it reaches my knee, I can't hold back a scream as I fall on my knees, hurting it even more.

 


	14. Revelation II

[ ](http://s1083.photobucket.com/user/pollewiezer/media/background/hunted.png.html)

**"It's not your fault." I whisper and wait for what's coming. For a couple of moments I don't feel a thing. That is until a searing pain sets in my right arm. It spreads and fast. The pain is practically unbearable and I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to scream. But it's a battle I'm going to lose. Around wounds, the pain is even worse. When it reaches my knee, I can't hold back a scream as I fall on my knees, hurting it even more.**

 

The pain doesn't stop nor diminishes. It's like someone set my veins on fire. I can't see anymore, I can only hear screams far away. It's probably me, screaming like that. Who else? I can't feel anything else but pain. I can't feel myself standing, sitting, lying down or whatever. Just the burning pain.

 

I'm still awake, somehow. Otherwise I wouldn't feel anything... I think. Bright colours are flashing before my eyes, something that normally makes me nauseous. But I guess my brain can't process being nauseous right now, not with all the pain. Finally I can't hear the screams anymore. The pain slowly but surely subsides and the colours make place for black.

 

***

 

_I'm standing in the field again. This time, it's autumn. The grass looks dull and yellow, the flowers are long gone. The leaves of the tree however are bright red. It's beautiful... peaceful._

_"Hyung!" Underneath the tree is Daesung, waving at me... smiling. He's holding strawberries in his other hand. Strawberries?_

_He tilts his head towards the space next to him, signing me to sit down._

_"Do you want a strawberry, hyung?" He asks me while he stuffs one in his mouth. He kind of looks like a hamster now. It's cute._

_"You know I can't eat, Daesung." I say softly while smiling. He looks down and nods slowly._

_"I know, but they're strawberries... maybe... maybe you are able to eat strawberries..." he blushes. I know he's only trying to help me. And I do kind of miss the taste of strawberries._

_"I don't think it works like that..." I whisper, trying to keep my tone lightly as if joking._

_"Where did you get them anyway?" He looks up smiling again._

_"Oh, I  found them by the river." River? There's a rive-- wait a minute..._

_"Dae, it's autumn, there are no strawberries now." He looks up, surprised._

_"Well, apparently there are..." Then, it dawns on me... I'm dreaming again. Shit, I shouldn't be dreaming, not now! I get up and walk away from Daesung, whatever is coming next, I'm not waiting for it. It's going to be a lot harder once I wake up if I do._

_"Hyung? Where are you going? Hyung?! Hyung!!" I can hear Dae screaming at me. I want to turn around, so badly, but I can't, it's not real._

_So I keep on walking._

_"HYUNG!!"_

***

 

"HYUNG!!" My eyes snap open, Dae's voice still in my head. I'm sitting on my knees, breathing heavily. The pain is no longer as strong as it was. Just some minor burn feeling at the ends of my hands and feet and my knee of course. I feel weak, if the chains weren't where they are, I'd fall over.

"HYUNG!" Dae? Wait, he's here? I can't believe my eyes. Dae's standing across the room, chained, looking pale,  scared and almost crying, but otherwise okay. The doctor is standing next to him, shaking and surrounded by a couple of guards.

 

"Dae?!" Oww, my throat hurts. I can barely say anything. But at least Daesung heard me.

 

"Hyung!" The colour returns to his face and he sighs.

"Thank god." I suppose he thought I was dead already. It probably looked like it, I'm pretty sure I'm not looking healthy.

 

"Well well, look who finally joined the land of the living again. Had a nice nap, Seunghyun?" The one voice I don't want to hear. He's still standing on the balcony.

 

"What is Daesung doing here? Let him go!" I find my voice again. He just laughs. Dae can't be here. Whatever they are planning it can't be good.

 

"I think you already know why. See Seunghyun, on the outside it might seem like you changed. But on the inside you're still the same frightened kid with low self-esteem. You couldn't care less if I'd hurt or even kill you. But I really need to find that Jiyong friend of yours, plus... I want you to feel the same pain I did." There was no joy in his voice anymore. His eyes were dark now, hard.

"So you leave me no choice. Guard!" One of the guards steps towards Dae. He looks so afraid now. Why him, he doesn't deserve any of this. I see the guard pulling a knive from one of his uniform's pockets. I have to do something. Think. THINK!

 

"Wait!" I realise a bit late that that was the sound of my own voice. The bully smirks again.

 

"See? Much better. So Seunghyun, where's Jiyong?" Shit, shit!

 

"No Hyung, don't!" Dae screams. I can't let them torture Daesung... But I can't just betray Ji like this either... wait...

 

"You can't harm him! He's human!" It's better than telling him where Ji is, but still.

 

"So? A minor sacrifice for a greater cause." He smirks again, seems like all he ever does is smirk.

 

"You know that's not true. Jiyong is no danger to other people. But if you harm Daesung, in any way, it makes you no better than me. You'll be a _monster_ as well." I see Dae flinch at the word 'monster'. I know he hates the fact that I think of myself as a monster, but it's the truth. And it seems to have the desired effect. The bully is no longer smirking. It seems as if he's thinking about what I just said. It's a bluff, at least part of it. Hurting him is not the same as killing him, but it's close enough.

 

"I see you're point. It's a good one as well..." he's walking around, clearly thinking about it.

"Guard, stand down! I won't hurt another human... at least not physically... "He stops at the railing again. He's smiling once again. This isn't good.

"I know for a fact that Daesung here is your boyfriend and that I can hurt him by hurting you. So that's what I'm going to do." How... how does he know?

 

"What, you're going to torture me again? Not very unique, what makes you think it'll work this time?" Keep on bluffing, I know I won't be able to take much more of this.

 

"Oh, no I'm not going to torture you again... well, not really anyway. See, my men are here constantly. They don't have the luxury to return home at night, nor see their wives for a long time... No time to... relax." Oh shit, no. I can't believe my ears. Daesung's face is pure white.

"I don't think I have to spell it out do I? Guards, take the doctor outside. After that, enjoy yourselves..." The doctor is being dragged out, screaming at the bully to stop. Not this, anything but this...

 

Once she is outside of the room, the guards return and walk towards me. I'm scared to death. Torture is one thing, but this... I guess I kind of deserve this... but Daesung doesn't. One of the guards pulls me up by my hair. It hurts, but not as badly as my knee does. I can barely stand up, let alone fight them. There are three of them standing around me. They look old and dirty. The one that pulled me up starts to pet my hair and I'm already ready to puke. I can feel hands all over me and it makes me sick. One of the hands disappears underneath the shirt I'm wearing.

 

"S-stop." My voice sound so insecure and broken, I doubt it has any effect.

 

"Wait, stop! I-I'll tell you! He's in a deserted red brick house near the central park!" Dae! He- he can't know that, how does he know that?! Shit... Shit! Everyone freezes except the bully. He claps his hands and laughs out loud.

 

"I'm surprised. You should've just told us sooner. It would've saved you from all of this." He picks up his radio and gives orders to search for Ji. I look at Dae, disappointment and confusion probably written on my face as he looks away from me, head bowed.

"Gentlemen, continue." What?!

 

"Wh- I just told you what you wanted to know!" Dae screams at the balcony, but the bully just smiles evilly. The three guards standing around me start to move again.

"Stop! Leave him alone!" Dae starts to pull his handcuffs and chains. The guards ignore him and continue what they are doing. I focus on Daesung now, he's hurting himself trying to escape, but it doesn't seem to stop him. For a moment, I think I see Daesung's eye colour  turning white, but it's my imagination trying to cope with the situation.

"I said leave him alone!!" But the second time I look at Daesung's eyes, they're still white. I'm not imagining anything. In mere seconds his hair turns almost white, nails grow sharp and black and three black stripes appear on his cheeks. No. Way. He's... he's also...

 

"He's one of them!" The bully screams, clearly as surprised by this as I am. I even forget to try to escape while new guards are entering the room, running towards Daesung. He, however, manages to break his chains and starts to hit the guards. They fly for a couple of meters after being punched. Such force... Dae, he's completely different.

 

I'm still staring when Dae finally manages to claw his way towards me. He's standing in front of me, chest heaving and practically bare. He must have ripped his shirt fighting the guards. Almost all of them, including the three that were standing next to me, are scattered on the floor. Daesung cuts off my chains as well and puts on of his arms around my back. We try to run but it's no use. My legs are too damaged to run. Dae seems to notice though and picks me up, bridal style. Oh god... If we weren't running for our lives, this would be hot... well even now it is.

 

"Shoot them!" I can hear the bully yell and not even 5 seconds later, a shot is fired. Daesung's eyes widen and he starts to tremble. He's shot! No! He keeps on walking, but we're crashing towards the ground not much later. Shit! No no no no! Dae!

 

"Daesung!" I crawl towards him and try to keep him up. No, please!

"Dae, stay with me!" He tilts his head up and smiles softly at me.

 

"Hyung... I'm sorry..." And he collapses in my arms.

 

"DAE!" I try to hold him up, but it's nearly impossible. No Dae, please don't leave me. I can't live without you... I'm so sorry.

 

Another shot is fired and I feel something entering my arm, I look down to see a syringe. They are not shooting with bullets, but sedatives! Thank god! My happiness however is short-lived as the room around me starts to go black.

 

TBC

 

* * *

 

A/N: phew, no more writer's block! Yeey. Pretty heave chapter, I know.

Daesung to the rescue (sort of, anyway). A couple of you saw it coming and OOOH sh*******t a huge spider just crossed my wall. RUN!!!!

 

*see you next chapter*  


	15. The Plan

**Another shot is fired and I feel something entering my arm, I look down to see a syringe. They are not shooting with bullets, but sedatives! Thank god! My happiness however is short-lived as the room around me starts to go black.**

 

 

_***_

 

_"Hyung? Can you hear me? You got to wake up... "_

_***_

"Hyung!" I hear Dae yell. Darkness is surrounding me. Am I still dreaming? Dae's voice keeps calling me, growing stronger every time. I feel something touching me. It's a weak feeling and I can't even tell where it's touching me. My eyes are closed, which explains the darkness. Maybe I should open them.

"Hyung? Oh my god, he's waking up! Hyung, thank god!" There's a bright light, I can't see a thing. Dae's voice is clear now however and I can feel him shaking my arm.

 

 _"Taeyang-hyung, he's back!"_ Seungri? That means I'm back in my cell... Shit my head hurts badly, but I can see Daesung now. He's still changed, hair as bright as Ji's when he's... normal looking. His eyes... They actually look a bit like Taeyang's. I'm glad he's okay.

 

"Hey..." I whisper, my voice sounds damaged, but I try to smile anyway. Dae tries to look happy as well, but I notice a hint of sadness on his face. He helps me up.

 

"Easy..." I hear Daesung say in a tiny voice. My legs feel a bit numb and my body is kind of stiff, but I'm fine. When I'm finally up, there's a slightly uncomfortable silence. Dae's expression is still the same and... wait, we're not in my old cell! The walls are painted in a dark purple and there's no more opening at the end of the wall. Then how...

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now..." my thoughts are interrupted by Dae. He's not looking at me but at his feet instead. Does he thinks I'm mad at him?... He didn't tell me about him being like us. Why, he knows he can trust me right? I mean, he's the same as I am, why did he lie about that?... Okay, maybe I'm a bit upset.

 

"I do." I try to stay calm, but when I look at Daesung flinching, I guess it didn't sound calm at all. I shouldn't be angry, he probably had a good reason not to. Plus he saved me... Kind of.

"I'm not mad Daesung. I'm just a tiny bit upset you didn't tell me. I only hope that you have a good reason." He still doesn't look at me. Instead, he starts to fumble with his fingers.

 

"I do, or at least I thought I did. Initially, I wanted to tell you on your birthday. I figured you had enough problems of your own before that. But then the cake happened and... After I was captured I thought I might as well wait until we were escaping, you know, so the guards wouldn't be prepared..." The last part makes sense, the first part is another story.

 

"You didn't think that it would've been easier if I wasn't alone in this? Jeez Dae, how the hell, could you keep th- wait, I've seen you eat!" My anger makes place for confusion.

 

"I-I have no idea why I can eat." Daesung looks really distressed.

 

 _"You're the same as Taeyang-hyung!"_ Seungri's voice enters my mind again.

 

"Okay, I'm going completely crazy now, why is Seungri in my head?!" Daesung looks up at that for the first time, eyes sunshine-white still.

 

"Yeah, that would be me." O-kay?

"Apart from being rather strong and having sharp nails, I'm also a telepath. That's also the reason why I knew where Jiyong was... being a telepath doesn't end with me being able to communicate through brainwaves, but I can also read other's mind when I want to."

 

"What, you mean you've been reading my mind since god knows how long?!" Oh no, that's not good at all.

 

"Wh-what? No! I've only been doing that when it was absolutely necessary. Like when you ran away at school, I used it to locate you, just like I did with Jiyong. Please hyung, I-I would never, you have to believe me!" The pure horror on his face tells me enough.

 

"I believe you. But why didn't you contact me sooner?"

 

"I did. Well, I tried but I'm not yet able to do so when the person is too far away. It was only when you were asleep or unconscious that I could contact you."

 

"T-those dreams were real?! You shaped reality in my dreams?!" Oh god, how far back do they go?

 

"Kind of, some of them didn't really make any sense, the strawberry remember." He smiles faintly which makes me smile in return. But soon his expression changes back to being scared.

"Hyung, I'm sorry, I only knew that I could enter your dreams when you were already here. Even when the cake incident happened you weren't that far away, but I just wasn't strong enough. I understand if you're mad at me."

 

 _"You shouldn' t be mad at him for that, Seunghyun-hyung. However, you should be for him telling where Ji is!"_ Seungri sounds rather worried than angry, but I can understand he's not too happy about it. Daesung flinches at the harsh words but seems to accept them.

 

 _"No, you shouldn't. He was in a no-win situation and I have the feeling that that's not all. Is it, Daesung?"_ Taeyang enters the conversation as well with a soft voice, trying not to accuse anyone. Seungri doesn't answer.

 

"Y-yes, There are a lot of red houses around the park. Jiyong isn't stupid, so he'll keep an eye open and from the moment he sees something abnormal, he'll take off." Daesung has a point. Ji's all but relaxed, especially after what happened. He'll make it out.

"If he didn't, he'd be here right now." Also true, so Jiyong's safe probably.

 

_"I also thought of that. I also noticed that Daesung is like me."_

 

"Yeah, he also has the same kind of eyes as you... Why do you think that is? Different kind of mutation? Did they give you something else?" Questions, more question that don't get answered. At least we're fairly sure that whatever they did with us isn't going to kill us... Not directly anyway.

_"Who knows, we can't be sure. So what do we do now? Try to escape?"_ Good question, we really should try to escape. We can't bluff anymore, not with Daesung not being human, not with the bully as a leader. If we don't get out, this will be our death. He won't stop. Daesung apparently feels the same way. He looks determent right now, not sad anymore.

 

"Yes, we should figure out how to as quick as possible. I will try to find something together with hyung. I suggest you do the same because I have to cut the link, it's draining me. If you want to contact me, you just have to focus, okay."

 

 _"Got it."_ And with that the link disappears. Daesung looks up at me again and I smile to reassure him that I'm no longer upset. It seems to work as Daesung smiles back softly and takes one of my hands in his. He pulls me towards a bench that's standing against one of the walls. I didn't even notice it was there.

 

We sit down and Daesung starts to tell me about the building. The guards had to move him a couple of times to other rooms due to the lack of cells so he has a basic idea of the area. There are seemingly three floors that are connected with each other trough staircases at both ends of the building and an elevator. There's also a flat roof with a ladder which is likely to be a fire exit. There's no wall or fence around the building, so in theory, we're out once we're at the bottom end of the ladder. Daesung tells me it's practically the only way out. There's only one entrance door and there are bars on every window. So rooftop it is.

 

Only problem now is, how to get out of our cells. Daesung is about to contact the others but I tell him to give them some extra time, perhaps they come up with a better plan. Daesung nods and once again there's a silence. It's different this time however. We're alone now and I feel nervous when I realise this. We're alone, really alone for the first time since the infirmary. Daesung looks up at me suddenly, face a bit red. I obviously said that last part out loud again. Smooth, very smooth.

 

The reaction however is, I have to say awesome. Dae grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers. I'm sure my face is as red as Dae's is. He smiles again and seriously, he has the best smile in the world. I come to the conclusion that my mind isn't working properly when I brush away the very light blond hair that's falling in his eyes. He stops my hand and put it on his waist. If I wasn't red before I swear,... But all my thoughts disappear when he embraces me. I'm so happy I could cry, but I figure it's best that I don't. I'm the hyung and frankly, I've cried so much already that I don't want Dae to see me as a cry baby, if he doesn't already. I close my eyes and try to calm down.

 

"Dae, I-I..." My voice sounds weak and I hate it. But I'm stopped by the feeling of lips on mine. My eyes open wide and he's so close. I can see his eye laces so clear now. Oh god, he's kissing me, HE IS KISSING ME! I shouldn't feel so nervous, it's not like this didn't happen before. He even puts his hands and combs thru my hair. It feels so good. I'm so happy even though I shouldn't be. We're still locked up. But at least we're together now. I should show more initiative though, I'm the eldest. I should feel certain enough. Maybe I should try something.

 

Our lips part and Daesung looks at me again. Now is the time to do something. I put one hand behind is neck and one underneath his leg and try to pull it towards me. I'm not near strong enough so I change but even then. Luckily Daesung understands and gets up, puts his knees next to my thighs and straddles me. Besides the fact that this is totally hot, I notice something else. I thought the near white eyes didn't have any pupils, but now I can see that there's a slightly darker part in his eyes and it's dilated. Which tells me he's liking this as much as I do. The hand behind his head pulls him closer to me and we kiss again.

 

His lips are so soft. I deepen the kiss and something changes in me. A warm feeling flowing through my veins and all of my insecurities disappears. When our tongues meet it seems like Daesung feels the same thing and his movements become more bold. I don't know how long we're at it, but it feels like hours. In the end we're both panting and when Dae starts to grind his hips into mine, I feel like I have died and gone to heaven. But our happiness is short-lived as we hear Seungri's voice in our heads.

 

 _"Guys, you got anything?"_ Shit, why is it that people always need us when we're at this point?! I realise a bit too late that neither of us answered. It's not like we actually can however, I'm pretty sure my voice would sound a bit weird at this point and so would Dae's.

 _"Guys? Did... Did I interrupt something?"_ He asks. I need to calm down. Okay deep breathe.

 

"No, no it's fine Seungri, uuh... Well, we figured a way out of here. Dae says there's a ladder on the roof and there are no fences around the building so... Only one problem, we have no idea of how to get out of our cells..."

 

 _"Well, I do."_ Taeyang joins the conversation.

_"It seems they moved us to the new cell in quite a hurry. They forgot something. The door. The door isn't reinforced so I can easily break it. I guess yours as well... Oh and guys, when are we going to risk doing this?"_

 

"Tomorrow..."

 


	16. The great escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "It seems they moved us to the new cell in quite a hurry. They forgot something. The door. The door isn't reinforced so I can easily break it. I guess yours as well... Oh and guys, when are we going to risk doing this?" 
> 
> "Tomorrow..."

****

Taeyang and Seungri are not too keen on escaping tomorrow. It's too soon and we don't even have a proper plan. Honestly, it is too soon, but on the other hand we can't risk prolonging our escape. We have to go and we have to go now. Taeyang agrees when I tell him, but Seungri still sounds a bit untrusting. It takes us a while before Seungri agrees as well, but in the end he can't deny he's afraid to stay here any longer.

 

There are some people that talk a lot. They mostly don't listen to what others are saying and don't think before they act. In fact, they mostly don't think at all. Seungri talks a lot as well, maybe a bit too much even. But once in a while, he says something intelligent. Like now, for instance.

 

_"We should start escaping before sunrise. I've noticed their shifts change right before the sun comes up."_

"And once on the outside of the building, those guys will have trouble seeing anything while we can use our uh... let's call it night vision." Daesung agrees. It seems their little dispute from earlier is completely off the table. 

"But that means we'll have to move fast." Also true.

 

 _"Plus, if we wait, they could take one of us for some testing or..."_ Seungri doesn't finish his sentence. He doesn't have to. Everyone knows that if they come and take us away again, it won't be for some simple tests… Not anymore.

 

"You're right, escaping just before sunrise is our only option..." I answer. Nobody says anything for a while. It seems like we are all thinking of possible treads and such. Until something dawns on me.

"Taeyang, Seungri, when you guys where moved, did they tell you why they moved you?" I only just noticed that I don't know why they moved them as well.

 

_"They didn't have to. One of the water pipes collapsed and filled our cells with water." Taeyang explains in a calm voice._

"So they don't know we talked or even know each other, apart from us both knowing Ji?"

 

_"No... No, I don't think they do..."_

"Perfect! If they notice for example that I and Dae escaped, they would focus on us and not know about your escape..."

 

 _"Or if you guys are in trouble we could come and help you without them knowing..."_ Seungri says, sounding rather positive. It's certainly a bonus if you think about it. And we can use all the luck we can get.

 _"Me and hyung will break out first and come straight to you, okay?"_ Dae and I both agree. We should sleep a bit or at least try to. We'll need all our energy for tomorrow's escape. Daesung ends the link between the four of us after saying goodnight and turns his head towards me.

 

“Goodnight, hyung.” He smiles softly.

 

“Goodnight Dae” I smile back and watch Dae close his eyes.

 

**

 

I’m the first one up… Well, I didn’t exactly sleep to be honest. I couldn’t, not with knowing what we’re about to do. Daesung is still sleeping, snoring softly. I hate to wake him up when he looks so cute like this. I comb thru his white hair, so he wakes up slowly. He’s still changed, but at this point, there’s no reason to change to our more human looking forms when we are around each other. I’m still changed as well, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see anything at this point. It’s dark inside. We have to make the darkness our advantage. Sure, we’re stronger and faster than the guards, but they got guns. One well aimed shot and it will all be for nothing. It scares me, more than I’ll admit but we simply can’t risk staying here.

 

Daesung slowly opens his bright white eyes. They seem to glow, but that’s probably just because we can see in the dark. He smiles at me and sits up.

 

“I’ll contact the others” He whispers. Apparently his faint pupils disappear when he makes telepathic contact. They appear back just after a second or so though.

“Guys, are you awake already?”

 

 _“You mean still awake? I didn’t sleep, at all!”_ Seungri’s annoyed voice answers instantly. It seems I’m not the only one who had trouble sleeping.

 

 _“I have to admit I was too anxious to sleep as well”_ Youngbae joins in. I can only assume Daesung could sleep because the telepathic contact drained him.

 _“Okay, we’ll break out after this conversation and come to get you immediately. Where are you guys, what floor?”_ Shit. I don’t know, I can’t tell because we don’t have any windows. I look at Dae and notice he just thought the same thing.

 

“We don’t know, we don’t have any windows…” There goes our plan.

 

 _“No windows? Are your walls by any chance purple? Cause we were put in such cells the first time we arrived here. Hyung, weren’t they on the first floor?”_ Seungri asks. Both me, Daesung and Youngbae answer with a yes. It’s Youngbae that keeps on talking.

 

 _“Hmm that’s too bad, we’re on the second floor already. Nothing to do about that. We’ll be going… See you later…”_ Youngbae doesn’t sound so sure about that last part. Now all I and Daesung can do is wait and hope they make it at least this far. We both stay put at the door, just to be sure. Daesung is fumbling with his fingers, a habit when he’s nervous. It’s kind of cute. I put my hand on his hands, trying to comfort him and it seems to work as he smiles.

 

**

 

It’s not too long before we both hear noise at the end of the hallway. And sure enough, there they are. Seungri looks fine, just a bit shaken. Youngbae’s arms however are covered in blood.

 

“Oh my god, are you all right?” Daesung asks as he sees the blood. Youngbae in return nods.

 

“It’s not… Mine… It’s from one of the guards… He noticed us on the stairs and… I’m unharmed, I’m fine…” He says. But he’s far from fine, I can tell that much. Attacking another person, literately tearing them apart is far from fine, even when he had to.

 

“You didn’t have another choice, believe me.” I say, knowing it doesn’t really help. But he nods anyway and seems to focus on the task at hand, like the strong man he is.

 

“Okay, you need to step back a bit. We need to freeze the bars first to make them brittle enough to break them.” Both me and Dae do as we’re told as Seungri puts his hands on the door. The iron bars instantly shows frost on them. Seungri steps aside and Youngbae takes the bars in this hands and pull. The iron breaks as if it’s made out of glass and hit the ground with a loud bang.

“Come on, we have to hurry, someone could’ve heard that.”

 

The four of us take off, leaving the cell and broken door behind. But as we reach the end of the hallway, I can already tell that it’s not going to be easy. I forgot about my still damaged leg. We turn left into an even bigger hallway and I try to keep up, but I start limping when we’re about half across. Suddenly Dae grabs my arm and we stop walking.

 

 _“Hyung, you’re bleeding.”_ Dae is looking down at my leg. As I look down I can see the bottom part of my pants being soaked in red and some drops on the ground behind me. Both Seungri and Youngbae stopped walking as well and turn around, looking at my leg.

 

 _“We need to get you to the infirmary and patch that up, we can’t have blood leading to where we are…”_ Youngbae says. It’s a ridiculous idea.

 

 _“Are you insane, what if the doctor turns up while we’re there!? Besides, it’s more likely they link it to the guard they will find, eventually, on the stairs anyway…”_ I say and as soon as the words leave my mouth, both Seungri and Youngbae look at each other with an unreadable face. Youngbae nods and Seungri turns to face me again.

 

 _“We’ve been meaning to tell you… We took the guard to the infirmary, hoping that after our escape somebody would find him and treat him. But when we arrived, the doctor was already there… She… she was so focused on helping the wounded guy that she didn’t really think about us running free… But… When he died, she finally did notice so… We had to tell her about the plan…”_ This can’t be happening.

_“You did WHAT?!?”_ I’m about to grab Seungri’s collar, just out of disbelieve. But Youngbae grabs my hand and looks at me with an even more serious face.

 

 _“It’s fine, she understood and actually encouraged us to continue. She told us that the elevator isn’t guarded on the first and second floor, but the stairway on the second floor is. So we took the elevator to get here. It’s old but quiet and there aren’t any sign that tell the guards on the third floor that it’s moving.”_ Youngbae halts his explanation, but I’m still not so convinced it’s all good. She’s a nice doctor that doesn’t deserve all of this. But she needs her job for her kids.

“ _She also left with us, saying that she’d go to the police and tell them about this place. Judging by the fact that the alarm didn’t go off and the lack of guards, I say she didn’t lie. So yeah, we are taking you to the infirmary.”_ Youngbae sound so sure of himself and I guess he’s right. Still, what good will going to the police do? I don’t think they’ll believe her. And if they did, they wouldn’t do anything anyway. They’re afraid of us. But I nod at Youngbae anyway since it’s the only thing I can do right now. He simply nods back and puts my arm over his shoulder.

 

We make our way to the elevator in silence. The elevator is indeed a very quiet one, especially since it’s old and it doesn’t take long before we reach the second floor. In contradiction to the first floor, this floor has windows and it’s already getting lighter outside. We should hurry. There are still guards on this floor, we must not forget that. The infirmary on the second floor is luckily almost next to the elevator, the first luck we have since escaping began. But entering the infirmary is however very sobering. The dead guard is still lying on the bed, uncovered. Large g        aps and cuts are visible on his limbs, but his vital areas seem unharmed. It’s clear that Youngbae didn’t mean to kill him. But he still looks so guilty and slightly ashamed. I gently squeeze his shoulder, trying to be supportive. He looks and me and tries to smile, but it’s not really believable. He puts me down on a chair while Daesung cleans and wraps my leg back up.

 

Unfortunately, our time without guards seems over as a two guards, that are not really paying attention, are walking nonchalantly into the infirmary. The moment they both see us and the dead body however puts them into action. The one on the left reaches for his gun as the other reaches for his walkie talkie. Taeyang pulls Dae away from my leg as Seungri does the same with me. We all manage to hide behind counters, chairs and table before the first guard starts firing at us. I can hear the other one say something in terms of ‘prisoner escape infirmary’ and ‘shut down’. Not even a second later, the alarm starts ringing loudly and red lights starts flickering. The door of the infirmary locks itself with a clear click.

 

 _“Distract them!”_ I hear Youngbae’s voice entering my head again. I look at him and Dae and it looks like they have some sort of plan so I and Seungri grab the closest objects near us and throw them at the guards.  It seems to work as one of us manages to hit the guards arm with a steel dish, making him drop his gun. This is our chance! Both Dae and Youngbae dash off towards the other one, not only knocking him off but also slamming down the door.

 

And this is the moment all the action comes to a stop. The knocked over guard is unconscious and lying still on the ground while the other one keeps pointing his gun at all of us, changing between me and Seungri, still behind a tipped steel table that’s about to give out and Youngbae and Daesung, standing in the hallway in front of the guard. Why are they still standing there?

 

“Go!!” I yell and Youngbae seems to focus again and drags Daesung away. Daesung clearly doesn’t want to leave but knows that it’s the best thing to do right now. They both disappear towards the stairway on the right.

 

Now we’re truly trapped. With a guard pointing a gun only at us, we don’t really stand a chance and he knows it at well. To top it all off, we don’t really have anything to throw at him anymore. I

 

It’s only a mere seconds before he finds that out as well as we hear footsteps coming over. I make myself very small and squeeze my eyes shut as I hear the sound of the gun being loaded not that far away from my head. This is it. This is where I die.

 

But nothing happens. I open my eyes again when I hear a loud ‘NO’ coming from Seungri only to see the steel table flying thru the air, hitting the guard and crushing him between it and the wall next to the door. Time seems to stop at that moment as I stare at Seungri, standing up next to me. He’s looking at his hands with bright purple eyes and lines that are even more visible than usual running crisscross over his face. He looks down at me, chest heaving. I guess he just found out how to use his power. So I smile at him in relief.

 

“Nice save.” And he smiles back. He gives me his hand and helps me get up. It’s time to go. The both of us turn left, back towards the elevator. We both know that there will be guards waiting for us, but with my leg and Youngbae and Dae taking the stairs, it’s the best thing to do right now. Seungri practically drags me into the elevator and pushes the third floor button.

“Be ready.” I say and we both stand against the opposite walls. And sure enough, as soon as the doors of the elevator open, a horizontal rain of bullets enter. It only lasts for a couple of seconds until we hear the clicking of empty guns.

“Seungri, now!” And we both exit the elevator at the same time. Seungri almost immediately uses his powers to beat the guns out of their hands before they have time to reload.

 

Now we only have to fight six trained guys in perfect shape. Seungri tries to use his powers on the guards themselves, but apparently he’s not strong enough. They only move for half a meter and that’s it. They all launch at us. Seungri, who’s standing in front of me gets captured by three guards before he even had the chance to do something. The others come right at me. I try punching one, but my injuries weaken me so much that it’s almost no use. Two of them grab my arms and put them behind my back. Without my arms, there isn’t much I can do. The other guard starts to hit me and kicks my legs. It hurts, badly and it won’t be long before I’ll lose consciousness. But as I’m about to black out, I hear my name being called.

 

Dae? And sure enough, both Youngbae and Daesung are running from the other side of the hallway. It seems to distract the guard in front of me and he turns around to look at the two of them. As I look at his neck, I can see his veins and it just dawns on me. I have fangs, why didn’t I think of this before, just bite his neck and make him bleed so hard he can’t even begin to fight back! Screw the bad taste! It’s better to be nauseous than dead!

 

So I plunge my fangs into his neck. The guard just screams in return, I guess it hurts. He tries to get away, but I won’t let him. The other two guards don’t really do anything though, maybe they’re just too stunned at the moment. The taste of the blood is foul, but it does something to me. I feel my strength returning as the pain from my wounds ebbs away. I’m pretty sure I just growled as well, but I can’t be sure. The feeling of power is flowing thru my veins. What the hell is happening?

 

“Hyung let him go!” It’s not until I hear Dae’s voice that I somehow return to reality. Was I ever away? I open my eyes and release him. As soon as I do, he crashes onto the ground, face devoid of any emotion or colour. The other two guards are also on the ground, unconscious with scratch marks everywhere. Did… Did I do that? When I look at Daesung and the rest I notice they took out the rest of the guards. But the look on their face isn’t one of relief. Daesung looks at me with pity in his eyes, Youngbae is clearly worried and Seungri looks downright scared. Daesung approaches me with caution. Is he afraid of me?

“Hyung…”   

 

“I… What…I?” What the hell? This isn’t normal, even for me.

 

“Hyung, it’s fine now, calm down…” Calm down?

 

“I am calm, I… What happened?” Daesung seems less alert.

 

“You went practically berserk after you bit him… You also took out the other two by catapulting them into the wall… And you’re fully healed…” Daesung points at my leg. It is healed! How did this happen?

“I think that’s the reason why you keep seeing veins only why you’re hurt… It’s some sort of pain killer and heal factor for you…” That… makes sense, I didn’t notice before but I indeed only see them when I’m hurt, physically or emotionally. My mind can’t tell the difference.

“And when you’re not injured, it makes you high like it did before in your bedroom remember?”

 

“Yeah… Yeah, okay that seems legit… But… I don’t remember…”

 

“That… Is slightly worrying me, but we don’t have the time to worry, we have to go! We found the door to the roof!” I nod and we all begin to run. It’s strange after weeks and weeks of not even being able to walk properly, I’m suddenly running, without pain. Strange, but it feels so good!

 

**

 

The rooftop’s door is apparently close to the ladders, yes ladders as in plural. Good, which means will be down on the ground even faster. Seungri and Youngbae take off first. Me and Daesung try to barricade the door just in case. It will be quite a long run… There’s a huge field of grass to be crossed before we’ll reach the forest behind the road connecting it with the field. Going down the ladder won’t be as much of an obstacle as I initially thought it would be, since I’m completely healed. I can even use my speed to go faster but I won’t since Dae can’t. We’re halfway there when I see the other two already at the bottom. I make a sign to tell them to not wait for us and they start running away from the building. It’s not long before we’re at the bottom as well.

 

Running has never felt better, we almost catch up with the other two when I hear a voice I recognise anywhere.

 

“Riri!!” And sure, out of the forest appears the changed form of Jiyong, smiling and running towards Seungri and Youngbae. Both of them speed up and they start shouting at Jiyong, so happy to see him. In the corner of my eye, I can vaguely see Dae smiling at the scene in front of him. Jiyong’s smile disappears though and a look of utter horror falls on his face.

 

“Look out!” and at the exact same point I hear a loud BANG behind me. We all freeze except Dae as he falls to the ground.

 

“DAESUNG!”

 


	17. DOA

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N: oof, many months later and such a short chapter, sorry. But at least I’ll have the time to write some more soon *inner voice: no you don’t, you have to redo your finals!* T_T  
> That won’t stop me however :p   
> Anywho, thank you all for your lovely comments as always!

“Riri!!” And sure, out of the forest appears the changed form of Jiyong, smiling and running towards Seungri and Youngbae. Both of them speed up and they start shouting at Jiyong, so happy to see him. In the corner of my eye, I can vaguely see Dae smiling at the scene in front of him. Jiyong’s smile disappears though and a look of utter horror falls on his face.

“Look out!” and at the exact same point I hear a loud BANG behind me. We all freeze except Dae as he falls to the ground.

“DAESUNG!”

Dae lands next to me and hits the ground quite hard as he screams in pain. I can see blood running from his right shoulder. I turn my body around and start running towards him, but an angry voice stops me.

“Don’t even think about it Seunghyun!” I look behind me and see the bully standing there, surrounded by other guards, gun pointing at Dae.  
“One more step, any of you, and I’ll fire again and this time it’ll be his head…” What now? I look at Dae, he’s clearly in pain but his mouth is forming the words of ‘go, run away’. But how can I Dae? He’ll shoot you. 

“Please don’t.” It’s the only thing I can say. I sound so pathetic, so scared. But it doesn’t make a difference. The bully even starts smiling. It’s that same creepy smile as before.

“You’re repeating yourself, Seunghyun. I remember you standing in that bathroom, saying those words over and over again… Until you changed into that monster you are now. My friends begged you to stop tearing them apart, but did you? No, you slaughtered them!” He keeps on waving his gun in Dae’s direction as he’s talking. Dae doesn’t deserve all this. This, all of this is only happening because of what I did in that bathroom.

“Then shoot me, he has nothing to do with it!” I yell, or at least I try yelling. The bully’s eyes widen at my statement and he smiles again.

“True, but he’s a monster, just like you. You are all monsters. I’m doing the world a favour by killing you.” 

“Please…” Is the only thing I can say. There’s a pause, a moment of pure silence when he’s just staring back and forth between me and Dae. He seems in deep thought. 

“Fine.” He sighs after a few moments and the gun is now pointing at me.  
“But know this: once I shot you, I’ll enjoy making their lives hell as well.” I can hear the sound of the gun being loaded. This is it, isn’t it? In the end, I’m not even scared to die. I fear more for Dae and the rest after he shoots me. Time seems to slow down now and my hearing must not be working fully since I can hear the sound of my own heartbeat loud and clear. I also hear Dae’s voice yelling, but it’s too muffled to understand. I can see them starting to move towards me in slowmotion. You shouldn’t Dae. The fact that everything around me is happening so slowly means I’m going to die anyway, right? Why aren’t you running away from me? I’m giving you an opening here, run! But I guess my time’s up. The sound of the gun firing, following by an immense pain in my stomach says enough. The last thing I hear is the sound of Dae’s voice.

“NO!!!”

*** 

“Wake up, Seunghyun!”

***

There’s a white light trying to pierce through my eyelids. Am I in heaven? When I open my eyes the lights so bright I can barely see a thing, but I can clearly make out the shapes of hospital lamps on the ceiling… Pretty sure heaven doesn’t have those lamps. So I survived? How? Where am I? 

“You’re at a hospital as you can see.” I hear a very familiar female voice beside me. The doctor’s voice. I try to turn my head to look at here, but it hurts too much.  
“Careful now, you’ve been out of it for a while so your body is quite stiff. I’ll turn the bed for you. Just relax, you’re safe.” 

“How?” Arh, that hurts. It’s probably best if I don’t try to talk.

“Well, your boyfriend can tell you the whole story if you’d like… That is, if he stops crying.” I can hear a faint, lovely laugh in that voice… wait a sec… boyfriend? Dae, Dae’s here?!

“Dae?!” Ah shit, Seugnhyun, don’t try to talk! My bed is turned around completely and I can see Dae sitting there. His face is a complete mess. Tears are streaming down his cheeks, nose running and he’s clearly sobbing. 

“Hyung!” He stands up so fast I can barely embrace myself for an incoming hug. I can see the doctor smiling behind him.

“I’ll leave you two alone for now, but don’t do anything stupid okay?” She picks up her coat and leaves the room.  
“The police will want to talk to you later so make sure you rest.” When the door closes, Dae also releases me from the hug. His cheeks still look like rivers but at least he stopped sobbing. I lift up my arm, trying to wipe away the tears from that handsome face. It hurts a bit, but I don’t care. 

“What happened?” I whisper this time, it’s still painful but not so much. Dae looks at me with a frown and starts talking. Apparently the police came right after I was shot. Dae tells me he feared that they were there to help the guards take them back in. But they immediately ordered the guards to drop their guns. The bully wasn’t so cooperative though and was shot in his arm right before he tried to shoot me again. They were all arrested and I, Dae and the others were transferred to the nearest hospital. Jiyong and Seungri got discharged immediate and were brought to the police station. Youngbae had some minor injuries so he left a bit later. But both me and Dae got shot so we had to stay. In fact this reminds me of something.

“Dae… Why and I not dead?” I ask. Still, my mind made it quite clear I was going to die that moment. I completely blacked out instantly. I shouldn’t be here.

“Well… The moment you fell down after you were shot, I ran over to you. By them the police was almost already there so I took a chance and fed you my blood…”

“I bit you again? I’m sorry.” God, I hate that. Hurting Dae is the last thing I want to do. But Dae’s eyes widen at my statement.

“No hyung, you didn’t. I was already bleeding from the gun wound remember so I used that… And it’s good that I did that because the doctor thinks you wouldn’t have made it otherwise…” Oh… That’s good, I guess.  
“But… Not that you biting me really bothers me though. Remember, I asked you to do that the first time. And… it’s kind of hot…” His cheeks have a light, pink colour and he looks away shyly. It’s very cute. 

“Which reminds me, the first time I bit you, I was so high my mind made up quite a story.” I laugh, my throat hurts less and less. But why am I telling him that weird fantasy of mine. Oh well, we’re together now so…

“Ah you mean that thing you sort of dreamt before you thought you passed out right?” I nod.  
“Yeah well… it wasn’t… exactly a dream… It… might have happened…” Dae’s face is completely red now. 

…

“WHAT?” This… I… Oh my god…

“Hyung, I should’ve told you… but at the time, I… we… you know, it wasn’t a good time… I’m sorry…” Dae’s almost crying again. Jeez, if I had known that… 

If I had known that, then what? Perhaps it was smart to act like it didn’t at the time. We had to focus on other things and who knows… We weren’t together then. Hell, I barely knew I liked men… It might have ended worse if he didn’t.

“No it’s… it’s okay, you did good to act like I dreamt the entire thing. We had to stay focussed.” Dae’s face lights up. How I love that. I take his face in my hands, pull him closer and kiss him. It feels so good to kiss him now, when we’re both free. The soft noises he’s making only encourage me to deepen the kiss. I open my eyes again and we part because of the lack of air and he looks at me. His smile is so beautiful.

*KNOCK, KNOCK* Great… 

“Come in.” Dae’s words barely left his mouth before the door opens. There are four police officers walking into our room, all stopping halfway towards the bed.

“Seugnhyun and Daesung I presume? I’m sorry to interrupt you but I will have to ask you two to come with us to the police station.”


	18. Chapter 18

Crap, they don’t look friendly at all… well, actually… they look a bit scared.

“Hyung.” Dae’s whispering. I look at him, signing ‘what’s wrong?’ with my head.  
“You’re still changed.” Oh. I change as fast as I can back to what could be described as a normal looking person. Three of the officers look at me with wide, judgmental eyes. The other, I presume he has the highest rank among them based on the outfit, only lifts his left eyebrow.

“I’m sorry.” I apologise. It’s best to show them a gentle, human side right now. Even if it’s a little over the top. Right now, I don’t want to take a chance. The three officers clearly relax a little. Their leader even smiled.

“That is all right, I assume this trip hasn’t been easy for any of you. Unfortunately Seunghyun, we still have some questions that need to be answered. So I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to come with us.” Apart from the doctor, he’s the first one who isn’t actually afraid of us and who treats us like normal people. But can he be trusted or does he only wants answers?

I nod and get off the bed. It’s easier than I expected. I am healed almost completely. Daesung is smiling at me, telling me it’s okay to go with them. They are walking beside me, not holding me like the other guard. After a while we halt in front of a door. But the scenery triggers a memory from back in that prison. The door looks like that massif door separating me from the torture room.

“Are you okay?” The head of the officers asks me, slightly worried.  
“You look pale…” I also feel like I just came out of a swimming pool, I’m sweating that much. I nod in answer.  
“Flashback by any chance?” And again I nod. He has a sad smile on his face and pats my back, only to stop doing so after a minute. He doesn’t really know if it’s okay, but I can see he’s trying the best he can to make me feel comfortable.  
“It’s an interrogation room, just like the one you see in those cop shows.” 

We enter the room and he’s right. A simple table with three chairs, a camera and one of those one-side see through windows. The leader offers me to sit down and I do as he asks. He sits down as well as one of the other officers at the other end of the table. I’m not cuffed nor is there anyone standing at the door. What a difference.

“Listen, I want you to know that you’re free to go whenever you want. You’ve been through a lot lately and if you want any help, psychologically, we will get you some one. Okay?” I’m pretty much good. What would I tell a shrink? How could he possibly help me? It’s not like I can ask him ‘hey, I’m a monster, how do you deal with it?’. So yeah, that’s ridiculous. I’m finding this a bit too good to be true. Why are they suddenly so nice to me? They work for the government as well. The leader must be able to see my sudden distrust however.

“I understand if you don’t trust us, Seunghyun. But I can assure you, we know how you guys have been treated, we know you mean us no harm and we know what happened… mostly. That’s why we want to talk to you.”

“How can you possibly know?” I ask, well… I growl. How can they know all that? And if they did, why would they believe it? But it seems I’m pretty easy to figure out. The leader puts his hand in one of his jacket’s pockets and takes out a white device.

“Do you know what this is?” Stupid question.

“An old mp3 player.”

“Yes, but this one is still young enough to be able to record… It’s the doctor’s. She turned it on when she was with you. She told us she was worried about your well-being. When you were brought in, she overheard the guards talk about how you were the big prize…” He stops talking and looks at me with pity.  
“We also know about the torture because of this… The last conversation was… horrifying and… I hate to have to ask you but… Based on the last part of the audio file, they planned to rape you, did…” But I cut them off. 

“No… No Daesung, saved me just in time…” I realise I answered that very fast. It’s true that I was lucky, but I can still feel those hands on me.

“That’s… that’s a relief.” The officer smiled.  
“Unfortunately and I know that sounded slightly wrong, however that means we can’t actually give that as a reason to give them a higher sentence… But they did try, didn’t they?” 

“…Yes.” I can barely talk. I almost forgot about that incident but this conversation doesn’t exactly help. The officer however nods understandably and is signing to the other one next to him to write it all down.

“Look, it’s already proofed that they were planning to, tortured you and made you guys live in inhuman conditions. Not to mention they deceived the entire nation to make them believe they were trying to cure you. If they don’t get sentenced for life, I’d be surprised, but you can’t be too careful.” He’s talking in a very loud voice now, trying to convince me of the fact that there’s nothing to fear.  
“But enough about that, I guess you want to forget most of that… I do have some other things I need to glue all the pieces together.” 

The officer asks about my power, what it is and how I feel about it. I tell him everything I know. There’s no use trying to hide anything because they’ll find out eventually. He also asks me about my wounds. For a guy that has been tortured and shot a couple of times I don’t look bad I guess. I tell him about the blood, the healing part of it as well as the part that makes me high as hell. In my hastiness to get out of the interrogation room I also mention Daesung and the, what I now know is not true, dream I had the first time I got high.

“Heh, seems like something good came out of this, after all.” The officer smiles at me.   
“Which brings me to the next topic. Did you really not know about the fact that Daesung is also… well, what you are?” There’s still no name for us. You’d think that after all this bullshit there would be one…

“I didn’t, Dae told me later that he didn’t know it himself for a very long time. He also kept it from us to protect us I guess, so we didn’t have to lie.” 

“I see… Well, that’s about it. The doctor wants to keep you for a few days but after that, you’re free to go home or anywhere else you want to go.” It’s my turn to look at him with wide eyes. 

“Free to go?!?” This can’t be right? There’s some catch, there has to be one!

“Yup… there’s no cure and there’ll never be one… They discovered it’s your DNA that has been altered so right now there’s nothing to do about it… Not that there should be a cure anyway.”

“What?” Okay seriously, this is weird. First, everyone wants us gone or turned back normal at least. And now this guy tells me it’s better if I stay this way.  
“Why are you not against it, against us?” The officer laughs briefly and gets up.

“I have a 12 year old daughter… at the time of her birth, we didn’t have a lot of money. So we put her up for the tests… She’s the sweetest girl in the whole wide world. And you guys are also good kids. That’s why. You’re no more a treat as any other person.” He puts his hand on my shoulder.  
“And after the trial, the rest of the world will know that as well.” He waves his hand towards the door.  
“Shall we? I’m pretty sure you can’t wait to get out of this room.” He smiles again and this time I smile as well. Finally someone who doesn’t hate us for being different. 

On our way back to the hospital ward he tells me how I scared the other officers when they came to get me. He also makes a joke about my possible future in a haunted house and the success it would have. I think the guys and I are very lucky to have such a good person as our head officer on our case. We stop right in front of the ward’s door and he turns around.

“Got a little surprise for you.” And as he opens the door, I see four pair of eyes looking my way.

“HYUNG!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: told you the next chapter would be here faster.  
> Oh I also forgot to mention that I went to Japan for 3 weeks and had the utter luck to catch a ticket for Daesung’s concert. It was so good! And as a special guest: GD!!!   
> Now back to work!


	19. What now?

On our way back to the hospital ward he tells me how I scared the other officers when they came to get me. He also makes a joke about my possible future in a haunted house and the success it would have. I think the guys and I are very lucky to have such a good person as our head officer on our case. We stop right in front of the ward’s door and he turns around.

“Got a little surprise for you.” And as he opens the door, I see four pair of eyes looking my way.

“HYUNG!”

In front of me I see my four new friends, all with a smile on their face for the very first time. Seungri is the first to run towards me and hug the daylight out of me. The rest of them follow rather quickly. After, what I guess, a couple of minutes squeezing me almost to death, Jiyong looks up at me.

“Long time no see…” He says in a soft voice. He looks good, much more relaxed since I got arrested. It makes him look younger.  
“It’s good to see you again… I’m glad everything’s okay, well… you know what I mean…” He looks at my wounds, clearly sorry.

“Yeah, in the end, it could have been far worse.”

“Understatement.” I hear Seungri say against my sweater. True. I honestly taught we were doomed. I could be dead, Daesung severely tortured or also dead… We were lucky, even though a lot of people would think otherwise if they gotten through the same thing. But we’re alive and apart from some scars, we’ll be okay in a few weeks. And I can’t help to feel a little helpless… What now? We got out, sure. But I’m not planning to go back and live with my parents. Okay, they apologised and all. But they didn’t attempt to get me out or something. So yeah, I don’t really wanna go back… Taeyang seems to ask himself the same question. He releases and looks up at me.

“So… What are we going to do now?...” I can feel Seungri and Dae’s grip on me also loosening. There’s a moment of silence and everybody is looking at each other.

“I’m not going back home.” I state.

“Yeah, I’ve got nowhere to go anymore either…” Ji says somewhat unhappy. The others nod in agreement.

“I’ve got an idea… But I’m not sure you’d like it… Maybe we could rent a house together?” Dae says in a small voice. We all look at each other and everyone seems to agree that that’s not a bad idea.  
“One problem however… I don’t have a job.” And I don’t have one either.

“Well, Seungri and I had a job at a bakery and Taeyang worked as a mechanic so that should cover it. Those people were very open minded and I’m sure they’d accept us. You two can finish your school and maybe find work during the weekends?” Both I and Daesung nodded.

“That could actually work!” Dae seems to be happy and relieved. Something that makes me happy in return.

“I saved up quite some money so the first few months of rent shouldn’t be a problem… All we have to do now is contact our previous employers and find a place to stay. Until then, we can stay where Ji’s staying at the moment.” Which gives me an idea…

“You’re still staying at that red brick house right?” I ask Jiyong and he nods.  
“What if we buy that place and renovate it entirely. Not only is there room enough for the five of us, we could also rent the other rooms to people like us. You know, people that may not have a home or a loving family to go to…” I barely finish what I wanted to say before the other four agree with me, very excited.

“I think I have enough money to buy that shackle, it can’t be too expensive” Ji says.  
“Okay, we three will go and contact the broker and see what we can do.” Jiyong turns around and grabs both Yongbae’s and Seungri’s arms.

“We’ll go with you.” I say, I want to be sure we got the place. But Ji is quickly to turn around with a frown on his face.

“Oh no, you won’t! You’re still hurt from the shooting. You will stay here until you’re fully recovered, which might be sooner than normal people, but it still won’t be today. Daesung, be sure to stay with him and feel free to kick his ass if he tries to escape!”

Taeyang looks at me with an ‘I’m sorry’ face while both Seungri and Dae are trying so hard to retain from laughing. Ji’s natural leadership is back I guess. Seungri’s the one who told me about Ji being quite the leader… or rather boss at anything… except in bed. Which in turn made Yongbae say something like ‘I did not want to know that’. I remember I laughed quite loud at that. It’s one of the most pleasant memories I have of that place. But I can see now that Seungri didn’t exaggerate back then.

But I guess he’s right. There’s really no use in prolonging my injury now. I nod and return to sit back on the bed from this morning. Ji and the two others take off and it’s just me and Daesung now. Dae’s looking at the door and keeps doing that for a few minutes, until his hair turn whitish again.

“Dae?” Is something wrong, why is he changing?  
“Is something the matter?”

“Huh?” Dae turns around and looks at me, clearly not understanding why I asked that. After a couple of moments he seems to get it.  
“Oh, no… It’s just easier to stay changed. Something I discovered yesterday… Perhaps it also quickens your recovery…” Oh, I did not realise that. I change to my other form and indeed, it seems easier somehow to stay like this. Dae smiles at me and comes and sit on the bed next to me. We keep looking at each other and the time flies by. Until Dae opens his mouth.  
“It’s weird, now that we know we’re save… I don’t know what to say to you…”

“It’s not weird… and you don’t have to say anything. I’m just happy you’re okay and that you are sitting next to me…” His eyes are watering but he’s still smiling.

“Hyung…”

“Especially after that stunt I pulled back in my bedroom.” I’m blushing now, I can feel it. I avert my eyes and look at the ground.  
“I can’t believe you just let that happen and didn’t run away… Well, I can’t believe you like me either so…” I can feel Dae’s hand on my hand. I look up and Dae’s expression is one of happiness and ease.

“You should think more of yourself, you know that? You’re so insecure and are always concerned of what I’ll think of you… Don’t you realise that I love you, whatever you do or say? I know you, hyung. That’s why I love you.” It’s my turn to stop myself from crying.

“I love you too.” I say and I pull him towards me to kiss him. I love him so much and I’m sure he can feel it right now, just as I can tell he’s really glad we’re together. My free hand unconsciously travels beneath his shirt and I can hear Dae releasing a soft moan, but then he’s pulling away. I open my eyes and he looks at me with a pout.

“We can’t hyung, not here. Knowing the doctor she’ll walk in on us and I don’t think I can go through that again. I laugh at his statement. After all those days locked up, you’d think there are other things you can’t go through again… But he’s right, another walk in and I’ll start to think it’s always going to be like that.

“Well, can I at least keep kissing you? I’m sure the doctor won’t mind that…” Dae lets out a small laugh, nods and kisses me again. His lips are so soft, I wonder how he’s keeping them that way after all the… let’s be honest, not so very clean environment we were in. I pull away. Dae, clearly confused, opens his eyes and looks at me.

“How in the world do you manage to keep your lips so soft?” I say with a small smile. Daesung smiles back and grabs something out of his jeans’ pockets. It’s a small tube of lip balm. I look up at him, this time I’m the one confused.

“What? A guy needs to take care of himself as well.”

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: another chapter done, let’s see what happens next right. I’m stuck at my school’s fabrication laboratory next week for at least 5h a day so there should be a next chapter soon.  
> See ya!


	20. Dream big

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “How in the world do you manage to keep your lips so soft?” I say with a small smile. Daesung smiles back and grabs something out of his jeans’ pockets. It’s a small tube of lip balm. I look up at him, this time I’m the one confused.
> 
> “What? A guy needs to take care of himself as well.”

After a couple of good laughs about lip balm I start to get tired. Dae, of course, notices.

 

“Hyung, you should go to sleep…” He says while petting my hair.

 

“But I don’t want to… I want to talk to you, kiss you…” I must sound like a baby but I really don’t want to sleep at the moment. Dae smiles and shakes his head.

 

“I’ll still be here when you wake up. Go to sleep you.” I do as I’m told again… I must be getting soft… Yeah, right Seunghyun, like you weren’t before… It doesn’t take long before I finally fall asleep.

 

**

_I’m dreaming again, aren’t I? I’m back under that weird tree and sure, Dae’s standing a couple of meters in front of me_

_“Just a guess, but that’s really you and you’re sleeping too, right.” He laughs at me and comes closer._

_“Yes to the first but no to the second… I’m right awake at this moment.” I looked at him in confusion._

_“What, you said you wanted to talk… so talk.” We both sit down with our backs against the tree._

_“Doesn’t this require a lot of energy?”_

_“Nope, talking at the moment seems easy… I guess I’m getting better at it… Though what I’m about to do might require more energy…” He takes my head between his hands and kisses me._

_“Nobody can walk in on seeing this in your dreams…” He turns so he sits on my lap and kisses me again. It feels so real, that’s the strange thing about it. As if I know he’s not really touching me but yet, I can feel him._

_“Besides, this only takes seconds in the ‘real world’.”  His hands are travelling underneath my shirt as he keeps kissing me, soft fingers roaming over my stomach and chest. I finally realise what the plan is._

_“Seriously, you couldn’t wait until we found a good place to do this when we’re both awake?”  I manage to say between the kisses. Well, at least I think Daesung understood me, because I can feel him smile. The kissing intensifies as does his hand movements. But suddenly, Daesung stops, sits back a bit and has a smirk on his face._

_“No, besides I think we’ve waited long enough already…” He leans over again and starts kissing me some more. He also starts moving his hips in a slow rhythm against mine. It feels so good and I notice he’s as excited as I am. We’re both still changed, which heightens our feelings. But does Daesung really feels anything right now. I mean, I’m dreaming, but he’s just here with his mind… It’s not the same thing. I try not to show my concerns in case Dae I’m imagining things, but Dae wouldn’t be Dae if he didn’t notice. He sits back, once again._

_“Hyung… is something wrong?”_

 

_“No!... Yes… maybe… I’m just, you know, w-wondering if you enjoy this a-as much as I do?” I stutter, sounding very insecure again. But Dae’s just starts laughing._

_“Hyung is always looking out for others except for himself.” Dae giggles, but suddenly stops and looks hungry at me. He takes my head in his hands and kisses me deeply._

_“It’s not the same, it’s kinda like a fantasy. But really hyung, I’m feeling…” Dae suddenly stops talking and starts blushing._

_“You know, I-I’m feeling stuff too…” He’s so adorable. His sudden change from brave guy to embarrassed, nervous mess is very cute. Not that I’m going to tell him that, not now at least. I’m feeling so hot and the current state he’s in gives me confidence to initiate. I move my hips against his and his mouth changes to an ‘O’ shape. I feel the need to quicken this entire thing up. Daesung’s right, we’ve waited long enough..._

_I move my hands from the grass, which I was apparently clinging on to, and start to undo the white shirt he’s wearing. We stop kissing for a minute because Dae looks down at what I’m doing. By the time I near the end of the piece of clothing, we’re both panting. My hands travel further down until they’re in front of his trousers. I move to the button of his pants but then stop. I look up to Daesung at the same moment he does._

_“Is this… Are you sure you wanna do this?” I need confirmation, there’s a difference between kissing and… well, what I plan on doing. Daesung looks at me in slight confusion at first, then sighs._

_“I do, I really, really do…” and he, in return, moves his hand and rests them on top of my pants. I start undoing his while keeping my eyes on his face. I’m shy like that it seems. Daesung is looking down as he’s doing the same thing to my pants, copying my movements. I can see his face however, from underneath his blond hair. He looks concentrated while still blushing. I continue and start to unzip his pants. Apart from our panting and the sound of the zipper, I can hear Dae’s breathing speeding up._

_My fingers reach the waistband of his underwear. Not gonna lie here, I’m nervous as hell. I’m pretty sure Dae is as well. I guess he noticed because he’s doing what I just did. My pants are almost completely open and I can feel a finger underneath my shorts._

_“To-… together?” Dae suggests. It’s a wise and logic thing to do, but I’m the oldest. For once I should start something, it has always been Daesung who initiated. It’s my turn now. So I shake my head without saying anything. Daesung clearly wants to protest as he opens his mouth. But I’m faster now. I release the waistband of this shorts and move my hand over the bulge between the now open zipper. Dae’s reaction is overwhelming as he’s taken by surprise._

_“Ah h-hyung!!” He was practically yelling as he buckled over, head falling on my left shoulder. I could feel short breaths in my neck, accompanied by some happy sounds. He tries to kiss my neck, but he doesn’t have enough air to do so, so it’s a bit sloppy. It hot, extremely hot. And out of nowhere I feel the need to scrape my fangs over that delicate skin of his. This is not the time for that. It’s hard not to, but we need to talk about that later. I’ve bit him before and I still don’t feel right about it._

_In all my concentration, I almost didn’t notice Dae moving his one finger to pull my shorts down. I stop my ministrations and quickly stop his hand by grabbing his wrist. This is about him, not me._

_“W-wait Dae…” Wow, I sound like crap._

_“Please, just… I want you to feel good as well…” The puppy look combined with the blushing is almost too much._

_“Please…” he whispers._

_“To-together?” I propose. The words barely leave my mouth and I can feel air where my shorts were recently. I manage to pull down his shorts as well and I find what I’m looking for a second later, as does Dae. An overwhelming feeling follows next. I can hear myself almost screaming in pure heat. Dae’s screaming as well and it is then I remember to take this slow, otherwise this will be over way too quickly. The movement of my hand on his erection almost stills and I concentrate on moving slower but with slightly more delicacy. Daesung’s movements however stay the same. With all my might I manage to open my eyes slightly. Dae’s looking down, eyes practically closed, but still open enough to look at what we’re doing. Even when it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen, I can’t help but to notice somethings going on behind Dae._

_The beautiful green field and blue sky are not that beautiful anymore. The sky’s a bright purple, clouds are coming in and form weirdly. The green grass is red and cracks are starting to appear. It’s creepy._

_I take my free hand and turn Dae’s head so he’s looking at me. I must have a questioning look on my face because Daesung starts explaining._

_“C-can’t concentrate… S-s-so close…” I can barely understand him but I get it, I think. He can’t maintain this reality while he’s doing this._

_“S-STOP!” Dae suddenly shouts. “s-stop… almost c… y-you first… will lose connection…” I see, if he comes this reality will collapse, Dae’s gone and I’ll stop dreaming I guess. I stop the movement of my hand completely. It seems like Dae can breathe again for the first time in a while. His movements however remain fast and I’m almost there. Again I can hear sinful sounds escaping my mouth but I’m beyond caring at this point. This feels so. good. He’s kissing me in the neck again between whispering in my ear._

_“Come on, hyung!” And that’s it, that’s what brings me over the edge imagining those beautiful lips saying that. I feel like I’m flying, like I’m going to explode soon. But I don’t and a few moments later it feels like I’m about to collapse._

_“Hyung?” I open my eyes and see a smiling Daesung still sitting in my lap, this time leaning back so far, I can see him entirely. Ah shit… so much for making sure Daesung gets treated first. And as much as I’m enjoying the view of a naked Daesung for the first time, I need him to be closer. My hands sneak behind his lower back and I drag him so he’s sitting on my crotch again. I move fast so he doesn’t see it coming. My left hand on a nipple and my right hand finding its previous target once more, I move so swiftly he’s panting again in no time. Daesung, now with two free hands, grabs both my arms like he wants to control the rhythm of my movements. He’s close again. This time I can not only tell by our surroundings, but also by the look on his face. I kiss him on the mouth and that’s what makes him come. I can feel some fluid on my hand and stomach and then… Dae’s gone and the realm around me falls apart in giant pixels until there’s only a black void left and then… nothing…_

_**_

I wake up with a start by a door closing. Opening my eyes so suddenly is not a smart idea. I’m blinded by the light in the way-to-white hospital room.

 

“Oh sorry, did I wake you?” That voice makes me forget about the bright light in an instant and I sit up and look at the bathroom door. Sure enough, there’s Daesung, still holding the door handle while looking like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

 

“No, no it’s fine…” Wow, I sound like I just slept for years. He let’s go of the door handle and walks towards the bed.

“Are you okay? You were suddenly gone…” And with saying that, Daesung turns as red as a tomato. Like he forgot about what’s happened and just remembered.

 

“Ah, no I’m sorry that happened-“

 

“It’s okay-“

 

“I’m really really sorry-”

 

“No problem, not your fault-”

 

“O-okay-”

 

“Yeah-”

 

“…”

 

A slightly awkward but still comfortable silence follows. Dae’s still looking red and scratches the back of his head while I try to clear my throat. Luckily for us my stomach then decided to make itself noticed by rumbling.

“Are you hungry?” Daesung asks me quietly.

 

“Yeah, kinda…”

 

“There’s a restaurant downstairs if you feel like walking…”

“Sounds good…”

 

“Okay… but you should probably change back, so you don’t scare other people…” Oh, almost forgot about that…

“And uh… don’t you want to change first, you know, after…” And then I notice a stickiness in my shorts and it’s my time to turn red.

 

TBC

 


	21. Dinner and talks I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Okay… but you should probably change back, so you don’t scare other people…” Oh, almost forgot about that…
> 
> “And uh… don’t you want to change first, you know, after…” And then I notice a stickiness in my shorts and it’s my time to turn red.

 

As I walk into the bathroom, I make sure to lock the door. Jesus, that dream was… well, definitely awesome, but also a bit scary. Dae’s ability is really something. I hear a knock on the door, followed by Dae’s slightly muted voice.

 

“Hyung, there are some clothes on the cupboard next to the sink!” I turn around and the first thing I see is a rather dark coloured heap of clothing.

 

“Yeah, I can see them.” Is my answer. I pick up the, what appears to be black trousers, a bright blue t-shirt and a black vest.

“Where did you get these?”

 

“I went shopping since none of us had some spare clothes…” I put them on, surprised that they did fit me perfectly, size as well as style. I splash a bit of water on my face and go outside. Dae’s leaning on the bed and looks up at me.

 

“Wow, you look nice!” he praises.

 

“I have to say that you’re quite good at guessing the size and putting together a nice outfit!” I confirm.

 

“Yeah, that’s because I know you, hyung.” He smiles.

“So, ready to eat?”

 

“Yeah, I’m starving!”

 

***

 

Dinner turns out to be just the same food we’d get when we stayed in bed, but it’s nice to be out of my room for once. Daesung’s chewing on some kimchi and seems to be tired. Yeah, he didn’t actually sleep, did he… Which reminds me…

 

“I’m quite impressed by your speed, to be honest… your bathroom visit was very quick!” I begin. Dae looks up at me with a questioning look on his face.

 

“… I’m not following you…”

 

“Well, you know I woke up after a few seconds… So your visit to the bathroom was rather quick…” As soon as the words left my mouth, Dae’s look was one of disbelieve.

 

“Hyung, you didn’t wake up after a couple of seconds, you woke up half an hour later…” Oh… wait really? It seemed to me like it was just a few moments between the end of our ‘dream’ and me waking up… although this makes more sense.

“Besides…” Dae continued. “I’m not that fast and I needed to… clean myself up as well…” It’s after Dae starting to blush that I realise what he’s talking about. My face must show because Dae’s blush makes place for annoyance.

“Seriously hyung?… No, I only had like a few seconds in real time while you had like 15 minutes, but I did quite enjoy that… and that’s an understatement.”

 

“Wait a minute, are you telling me that it only took you a few seconds to…” But I don’t get the chance to complete my sentence as Daesung suddenly gets up from his chair, lean over our table and put a hand on my mouth.

 

“Hyung, this isn’t the place to talk about that!” He whispers fiercely. Face as red as a tomato once again. I nod and he releases my mouth.

“But yes, okay? Yes!” he sits down again and it takes some moments before he starts talking again.

“Besides, you only needed a few seconds as well…”

 

“That’s… No, it felt like 15 minutes, so that’s different!” I try to defend myself and I can see a small smile on Dae’s lips.

 

“Whatever you say, hyung…” And he gets up again, picking up his plate and reaches out to pick up mine. But somehow I want to pick up my own plate, as some sort of defiance. He smiles again, probably because I’m pouting. He takes his hand back as I get up from my chair, but before I can go anywhere, his free hand grabs my arm and he leans closer to whisper in my ear.

“You know hyung, even if we do that in real life, it’s not like you’re going to last longer, I’ll make sure of that…”

 

…WHO THE HELL IS THIS MAN AND WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CUTE, LITTLE DONGSAENG?

 

 


	22. Dinner and Talks II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> …WHO THE HELL IS THIS MAN AND WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CUTE, LITTLE DONGSAENG?

Our walk back to my room is quiet, I’m still looking like a tomato while Daesung has a look of contentment on his face. But my shyness and surprise make place for an uneasy feeling as I look at the people we cross. The people in the corridors give us strange looks, I wonder if they know who we are. It’s not like we’re changed right? I quickly check myself in a window and see that I’m looking normal. Then why are they staring at us? Dae seems to notice the fact that I’m uncomfortable and his expression is now one of worry.

 

“Hyung, what’s wrong?” He whispers.

 

“Why are people staring at us?” I ask.

 

“Oh well, we’re actually quite famous now…” Daesung sees I’m not understanding so he start explaining.

“We were on the news when they rescued us, so most people know who we are and… what we are…” Ah damn, it’s going to make this more awkward and not to mention more difficult. Daesung stops walking, turns around and grabs my hands.

“Hyung, I know this isn’t ideal.” Yeah, that’s an understatement.

“To be honest, the social media has been quite positive about us. A lot of people accept us and support us after they heard the story about ‘that place’…” Dae hands me his cell phone. Wait, where did he get it!? Anyway I read a couple of news items while we walk towards my room.

 

It’s true, the media, for once, isn’t judging us. Probably because the daughter of a CEO of one of the country’s biggest TV channel is also one of us. There are pictures of us, normal us, with only our first names, stories about others, the story about ‘that place’ and numbers of incidents that show that we aren’t dangerous at all.

 

On social media people are coming forth, telling the world they are like us as well. People are strangely supportive most of the time. Also a lot of parents are talking about their son or daughter being different and how they deal or dealt with it.

 

I didn’t hear from my parents however. They should know by now what happened and still… Nothing… If they don’t want to talk to me or even ask if I’m okay, I’m not going to initiate contact either. I’m telling myself not to feel sad or be upset, but if I have to be honest, I am.

 

“You’re thinking about your parents aren’t you?” Apparently Dae was looking over my shoulder and saw everything I was reading. I can only nod at his question.

“You can call them if you’d like…” Dae suggests. But I shake my head.

 

“No… I’m not the one that should call…” I mumble. I can hear myself sigh and I look at Daesung, waiting for his reaction. He looks quite sad but seems to understand my feelings.

“It’s not like they are or were worried or anything. None of our parents were! Because if they were, they would’ve gotten us out of there.” Daesung suddenly stops and turns so he’s facing me.

 

“Mine called…” He whispers. I’d think he’d be happy about that, but he doesn’t look happy at all.

“Remember, they didn’t know about me… So when they saw my face on the news, they called…” He looks me in the eye and continues.

“I’ve told them everything… well, I’ve told my mom… My dad didn’t want to talk to me, he needs time-“

 

“Wait a second.” I interrupt.

“How could they not know about you? They must’ve signed you up for the tests!” Daesung shakes his head and takes my free hand into his.

 

“When I was younger, I used to live with my aunt and uncle for a while and they were the ones… My mom already confronted my aunt about it. She was just too scared to tell her…” Dae releases my hand and puts it in his hair, combing it back.

“Look hyung, that’s not the point. My mom knows and is supportive. She told me that if we ever needed anything, we could ask her, all of us!” he smiles, honestly thinking that it’s that easy. But his smiles disappears for a frown and a slightly worried look.

“I’ve also told her about… us…”

 

“WHAT?!” I nearly yell, but I remember that we’re in a hospital and we’re kind of famous now so I drag Daesung into the nearest concierge room I can find and close the door.

“Are you crazy, you just told her like that, without talking about it first?!” I’m a bit mad at Daesung, it’s not like we’re living in a country that support our kind of relationship.

 

“Hyung, I-I’m sorry, it just… happened, I wasn’t thinking, I-I’m s-sorry hyung, really sorry!” Dae pleads. It’s hard enough at the moment, I get the fact that he wants to tell his mother, he’s gonna have to at one moment, but now is simply not the time. She was the only one that was supportive of us being different as far as we know and now…

“Hyung, s-she’s really, really okay with it, s-she’s very open minded about stuff like that!” He’s trying to convince me that it’s all good, which is probably true, but that’s not the problem… But being angry at Daesung is not helping at all nor is it something I want to do.

 

“Fine…” I sign. He’s on the verge of crying, so it’s better to say this in a calm, soft voice.

“But in the future, we talk about stuff like that before you tell anyone, okay?”

 

“O-of course! I’m sorry hyung!”

 

“Yeah, I know…” I hug him, trying to make him see I’m not angry anymore.

“Sorry I yelled…” I can feel him nod. I hold him in my arms for a couple of minutes more, then release him.

“Come on, let’s go back to my room.” Again Dae nods, opens the door and we both walk out of the small room. Our walk back is silent, but I can see that Daesung isn’t sad or worried any longer.

When I open the door to my room, I can see 3 pair of eyes, accompanied by 3 mouth that are smiling.

 

“Hyung!” ”We need to tell you something awesome!!” “You’ll never know what happened!!”

All 3 of them start to yell at the same time.

 

“Okay guys, one at the time, what’s so great?” I ask. Jiyong steps forward and grabs one of my wrists and well as Dae’s.

 

“You need to sit down!” And he drags us both towards the bed and makes us sit on the side.

“Ready?” 


	23. The news

“Hyung!” ”We need to tell you something awesome!!” “You’ll never know what happened!!”  
All 3 of them start to yell at the same time.

“Okay guys, one at the time, what’s so great?” I ask. Jiyong steps forward and grabs one of my wrists and well as Dae’s. 

“You need to sit down!” And he drags us both towards the bed and makes us sit on the side.  
“Ready?” 

“I guess…” Is my answer. The three of them are practically jumping up and down with excitement. 

“Oh oh, can I tell, please?” Seungri begs and Jiyong nods.  
“Okay, so we were looking at that place, you know the abandoned red building? And we contacted the government because it was actually their building. We told them who we were and our plans and that we wanted to buy the place… But they didn’t want to sell… initially…”

“Initially?” Dae asks, looking at Seungri with some confusion. Jiyong takes over the explanation.

“Yeah, I got a call this morning. It was some high placed political guy who wanted to help us. Turns out his daughter is one of us and he very much likes our idea. So here’s the deal…” Jiyong stops talking, clearly to build up some tension.  
“We can’t buy the place, BUT we’re allowed to renovate the building so we can live on the top floor. We have to rebuild the rest so it’s some kind of shelter slash place where people like us can come together when they have a rough time or when they simply want to hang out. That major-ish guy said that he wants to create a place where we feel safe.” This is great news. Now we can all come together and talk about our powers and stuff.   
“The government is also willing to hire us to run the place… Well, part-time at least. So we’ll still need to find us a part-time job or something, but the food, materials and stuff needed for the place is going to be paid by them. So we don’t really need another job. Youngbae came with a great idea. Since the place is going to be filled with mostly young and scared people, we need some teachers, shrinks and stuff to support them.” Indeed a great idea, but Dae interrupts.

“That’s great and all, but normal shrinks… I mean shrinks that aren’t like us can’t really help those people.” He has a point. I mean, we figured most of our lives out already. But look what had to happen before we did. Those kids need somebody that knows their pain, fears,…

“Yeah we figured that.” Now it’s Youngbae’s turn to talk.   
“So I suggest we all go to college and get us some knowledge about stuff that can help those kids… and… we really need to start thinking about how we’re going to do all this… the design of the house, what we can offer to help, stuff like that.” 

And so we spend the entire day and the next figuring out how to do this. We came up with the renovation plans. The top floor is going to have everything a normal house have, with three bedrooms.   
We have 3 floors for the shelter. We decided to use the third floor for beddings and sanitary, so those kids can stay when they feel the need to. The second floor is going to be used as a cafeteria and study rooms which can be used for private conversations as well. The first floor is going to be recreational space, information point and stuff like that. 

We all decided what we’re going to study for. Jiyong and Youngbae are going for teaching, with both different specialisations. Youngbae’s going to focus on physical health care and Jiyong’s going for art courses, mainly music. Both will be able to teach basic courses as well, so that’s good.  
Dae’s mindreading thingy is going to help him to talk to those kids so he’s going to become a psychologist. Seungri’s going to specialise himself in financial stuff and law. He’s going to become our spokesperson and manager. I’m going to learn how to do research. Not only scientific research but especially research about our conditions. We know almost next to nothing at the moment. The shelter and all those special kids are going to be a great help. 

We spent two days talking about all of this and frankly, I’m tired as hell. Probably because I’m still recovering. The others don’t look good either. They’re very excited, but exhausted. I stand up from the chair I’m sitting on, but I can’t say a word before Dae speaks.

“Hyung, you should rest a bit… We all should rest a bit.” I nod in agreement. Although our healing takes less long than other ‘normal’ people, we still need a few days for stuff like bullets. I’m still in the hospital since I don’t have a place to go… well, I do now… but I’m not going to be able to recover in a building that’s practically inhabitable. The others are staying over there when they’re not visiting, using sleeping bags for the moment. It’ll do.  
“The hospital is releasing you tomorrow…” Dae interrupts my thoughts. “The doctor thinks you’ll be healed enough by then… You’re staying with us, right?” I nod again, but apparently not convincing enough.  
“What’re wrong?” 

“I’m not sure my leg can handle sleeping on the ground yet though…” I mumble. Dae rests his hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see him smiling at me. 

“That’s not going to be a problem, hyung. They already delivered our beds! And we’ve got electricity and one functional bathroom and toilet.” They made that much progress already? Wow.

“But there’s barely a safe floor or wallpaper still hanging on the wall… Why’s the furniture there?” Dae’s facial expressing doesn’t change.

“The fourth floor is in way better shape than the first three floors. Okay, it need some work, but furniture, electricity and water is more important than looks at the moment. Besides, those first three floors get priority… There’s a company today, however, that’s going to replace all the windows and doors. They should be done by tomorrow evening.” I’m amazed by the flexibility of Daesung and the other guys. But after living on the streets and in prison, I guess you could say that our new home is already awesome. 

The rest of the day goes by without anything worth mentioning. Daesung went back to help and I fell asleep soon after.

**

“Hyung, hyung! Wake up!” I’m abruptly awoken by the sound of Seungri screaming.

“Shut up, we’re in a hospital.” Jiyong hisses.

“Jiyong hyung, you’re quite loud as well” Dae joins.

“Seriously…” Ah, and there’s Youngbae’s sigh… My eyes are open at this point, but they’re too busy looking at each other to notice I’m awake.

“Jeez… And to think I’m going to live with you guys…” Are my first words. They all point their eyes on me again and smile. Seungri however is clinging at me. 

“Hyung, come on, you’re allowed to leave!” I sit up, or try to anyway and find my clothes at the end of my bed. I don’t even have time to get up completely before Seungri grabs them and throws them at me.   
“Go to the bathroom and change! Come on, hurry!” 

“Okay, relax, I’m going! I’m still recovering…” But as I stand on my feet, I don’t feel any pain. In fact, I can move like I did before.  
“Or not…”

“Wow… The doctor’s right, you’re fully healed…” Jiyong’s staring in disbelieve.  
“You’re exceptionally fast, even for us…” Youngbae nods and Seungri’s copying Ji’s expression. Daesung however has a cheeky grin all over his face…

“He’s fast in any way possible…” He says, making everyone looking like him with a confused look on their faces. I’m turning beet red however, knowing all too well what he really means.   
I’m clearing my throat and try to return their attention back to me. I don’t want them to think about that sentence for too long, but it doesn’t seem to work. 

“Anyway… I’ll be ready in 5 minutes.” I say as I make my way over to the bathroom. They are still looking a bit puzzled as I enter and close the door behind me. I sigh and walk towards the toilet when I hear Yougnbae uncharacteristically yell as it finally sinks in.

“GOOD GOD, I DID NOT WANT TO KNOW THAT!!!”

Tbc


	24. Moving on, baby

So here we are, ready to go to our new home. We’re standing in front of the hospital entrance and… wait a minute, our home is a 40 minute walk… I’m healed, but not capable of walking that long. How are we going to get there? We could take a bus… but with the five of us together and almost everyone knowing who we are, that may not be a great idea. Sure, the government accepts us… But the rest of the people might be afraid. But, luckily for me, I don’t have to think about that any longer as I hear Seungri’s voice in an over enthusiastic tone.

“I’ll get the car!” Car? Since when does Seungri own a car? I’m not even sure he has a drivers licence…

“Oh no, you won’t. You don’t have any experience yet!” Jiyong takes Seungri by the arm to hold him back which makes Seungri pout.

“Um, what car?” I ask. I can see Dae is as confused as I am. Youngbae turns around to look at us.

“Oh yeah, you don’t know yet. We got a car, a present from that political guy that helped us.” He says smiling. Seungri is nodding quite hard.  
“Follow us.” We walk around the hospital to get to the parking lot. There’s a red van with a lot of seating standing still. The van looks new and rather expensive.

“Wow.” Is the only thing I can say at the moment.

“Yup, neat, isn’t it? I’m learning how to drive and I’m allowed to use the van.” Seungri exclaims. But Ji is quick to temper his excitement.

“We’ve talked about this Riri, you need some experience with a standard car first before you can drive the van.” The stern look Ji’s giving him seems to calm him a bit, but the pout stays on however. Ji sighs and shakes his head.  
“Okay, I get it! You can drive, but you better be careful. The moment I think you’re not doing well or it’s getting dangerous, I’m taking over!” I guess even Ji can’t win from Seungri’s pouty face.

“Yeey!!” And Seungri sprints towards the driver side of the van. Taeyang puts his hand into his trousers’ pockets to grab the key. He walks over to Seungri and puts the keys in his hand. We all get in the van. Ji sits next to Seungri, no doubt to correct Seungri when he makes a mistake. Youngbae sits right behind Seungri, Dae’s sitting next to him and I’m behind Ji.  
We take off, or at least we try to take off, but Seungri’s driving skill is obviously not that great. We start and stop for at least six times in barely 10 seconds. When we finally start to drive, I’m thinking that taking a bus wasn’t such a bad idea after all…

**

Not even 20 minutes later we arrive at our destination. I’m fairly nauseous, but I’m sure Youngbae feels worse than I do. He has a slightly green skin colour. Seungri needs to practice, A LOT, preferably without me in the car. Ji however seems somewhat proud.

“Well, that went better than I thought!” Better?!? I’m not sure he’s ever going to be a good driver now… At least we got here in one piece. I look at the building. The red bricks seem brighter than I remember. There are new windows on every floor and the front door is new as well. They clearly got some work done in the last couple of days. It looks good, to be honest. Now I’m curious about the interior. As everyone got out of the van, I start walking towards the house, only to notice my leg hurts slightly.

“You okay, hyung?” Daesung asks, he always notices stuff like this… or it shows on my face, that’s a possibility as well…

“Yeah, my leg just hurts a little, that’s all.” I smile to put him at ease. He smiles back and takes my arm and puts it on his shoulder. The other arm goes around my waist to support me. I mutter a small thanks his way and we all enter the building.

The first thing I notice is that it’s pretty warm inside, I guess the heating’s working then. The hallway doesn’t have any new flooring or wallpaper yet. The doors inside the building are gone, probably to make working easier. The rooms next to the hallway already have a new floor and wallpaper or paint. There’s also a red couch and a stove present.

“Nice colours” I state.

“Yeah, Jiyong picked them. The couch and stove were donated yesterday by an elder couple, to support us – oh yeah, Ji, remind me to send them an invitation when the building’s finished – and the paint we got at a local pawn shop for a very low price. The hallway will be the last room to be decorated again, but the stairway is new.” Youngbae answers. I look at the stairs and indeed, it’s completely different than before. It’s painted in a dark red colour.  
“Let’s go upstairs!” I nod, but then I realise It’s going to be hard for me to get to the fourth floor with this leg of mine.

“I’ll carry you on my back, hyung.” There’s Dae again with his mindreading thing. Although I know he’s not really reading my mind, he just notices things. But piggyback riding? On stairs?...

“That’s dangerous, Dae.” I remark, but Dae’s already in position and waiting for me with a determined expression, no room for arguing. So yeah, piggyback riding it is then…

It doesn’t take Dae long to reach the fourth floor, he’s very strong (and obviously in shape). And although it’s clear that this floor didn’t get a make-over, it still looks quite nice. The wallpaper doesn’t look old, there’s enough light and the bathroom next to the stairs is, indeed, renovated a short while ago. The rooms all have doors contrary to the other floors.

“So, we have 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and a study on this floor. All rooms have the necessary objects and lighting as well.” Ji points out.  
“Youngbae’s room is the smallest since he’s sleeping alone… for now.” The statement made Youngbae blush.  
“Riri and I sleep in the room next to the study and you both get the room next to the bathroom… Let’s get some sleep, shall we?” Ji smirks. Seungri is smirking as well… weird. They walk to their own bedrooms but Ji suddenly turns around after a couple of steps.  
“Oh, there’s no running water until tomorrow, so no showers yet. The toilet, however, works fine. Good night!” And they all disappear in their rooms, leaving me and Daesung alone in the hallway.

“Okay, that was a bit…” Dae begins

“Weird?” I complete.

“Yeah…” We both look at each other and shrug. Dae opens our room, turns on the light and makes a groaning noise.  
“Now I get it…” I’m looking at his back and can’t see the rest of the room.

“Get what?” I ask. He turns around and steps aside. I can see a dim lit room with a double bed standing in the middle of the room.

“There were only four beds available in the thrift shop two days ago. Three of them were singles, one double. Jiyong hyung and Seungri had the double one yesterday. In their room. There were two singles were standing here…” He replies.

“Oh… OOOOHHHH….” Is my answer.  
“Jiyong, you devil…” We both walk towards the bed and sit on it, next to each other. I look, from the corner of my eye, at Dae. His face is red. And he has a worried expression. It’s clear what Ji’s (and Seungri’s) intentions are. But I’m not sure about this though….

“Let’s wait…” We say in unison as we both look at each other with both eyes… I laugh slightly and he smiles at me.  
“I’m worried about your leg, so… besides the walls are thin. It would be akward.” He explains. I just continue smiling.

“How do you know the walls are thin, you can hear the others talk?” I’m curious.

“No, not just that, hyung.” It’s Dae’s turn to blush.  
“Let’s just say that Seungri and Jiyong hyung aren’t always silent… More like… never actually…” Oh, didn’t need to know that… I don’t say anything but I’m sure my mouth forms a perfect ‘o’ shape. Dae can read my face as he turns his head and just nods.

“So, thin… then…” I whisper.

“Paperthin…”

Tbc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Oof… Half of this chapter has been on my computer for months now, but I graduated (a degree, finally…), I’m learning to be a teacher and I got a job= no time to write… Next chapter will be the last (dun dun DUUUUUHN)


	25. The end

I slept well that night, better since… well, since everything happened. The building is far from finished, but it kinda feels like home somehow. Perhaps because in all this mess, I’ve found the best friends I could ever hope for. We’re the same and yet so different. I also got a boyfriend, the perfect one for me. I still don’t think I deserve him, but Daesung makes sure to remind me that I apparently do.

It’s like, and this is going to sound weird, it’s good that everything happened the way it did. If my parents didn’t let those people experiment on me, I wouldn’t have met them. If my teacher didn’t buy me that cake, I wouldn’t have met them. If those people weren’t the worst people and didn’t lock us up, I wouldn’t have met them. And so on…

I’m not saying that I’m glad it all happened, and who knows how others like us are doing, but at least something good came out of it. This building for instance, we can go to college, Dae’s talking with his mother, Yongbae’s trying to talk to his, we’ve got electricity, hot water, our own beds… well, I mean, I share one, not that I mind…

Not in the least to be honest… One night, not long after we arrived here, Ji had enough with the silent life and decided to go to a night club, Seungri went with him, of course. Yongbae had late night classes at the university and would join them later. So we had the entire building just for the two of us. We weren’t really aware of that fact. Dae and I just watched a movie on the new TV he got from his mom, when he got chilly all of a sudden. Dae never gets cold, but with no heating… He got up from the sofa to search for a sweater or hoodie, when I heard him laughing.

Apparently he grabbed the first hoodie he could find and it turned out to be Seungri’s. In its pockets Dae found at least 10 condoms, all strawberry flavoured. Obviously Ji’s favourite. Without giving it a second thought, Dae opened one to see if it really tastes like strawberry. And that’s the exact point when the playful atmosphere turned into something more. Imagine you waiting for a moment alone with your beloved. It’s finally there and then he opens a condom, awkwardly unrolls it and licks the tip to check the taste. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?!? Exactly…

Super speed or not, 2 seconds from living room to bedroom is very fast. It turns out that first times are really clumsy and awkward and all that, but you learn a whole lot as well. It turns out we’re both not that hard to please, probably because it is our first time weird, Dae’s extremely ticklish and likes strawberry flavour as well and our powers can keep us going for hours. The only thing that stopped us was Ji yelling he could find Seungri’s hoodie (yes, that one. The one currently on the ground next to our bed). They got back and sounded very drunk. It was obvious why they needed that particular hoodie as well… We all laughed about it the next day of course.

But where were we? Oh yes, I slept well. From that night on I always sleep well. We’re all taking classes and have part-time jobs, but we were also able to finish the renovation. We’re opening our doors soon… In five minutes to be exact. I feel nervous. The governor is here and there are a whole bunch of people waiting in front of the door. Others like us, reporters with cameras, parents, you name it… And people keep gathering. There are at least two hundred people waiting for these doors to open. 4 minutes left…

We’ve got a recreational room with sofa’s, tables and a TV so people can come in to relax and meet other people. There are a few smaller rooms with a desk and a computer where they can study or talk to counsellors. We used soft colours on the walls, to create a feeling of ease. If the others went through half of what we went through, a save place is what we need. 3 minutes left…

There’s a room filled with ten beds upstairs, for the ones that can’t always go home. It comes with a bathroom and a kitchen. We serve dinner every night. We also provide help when we can. Homework, troubles at home, that sort of stuff. I’m really proud of what we’re going to be able to do here. I can feel Dae, Ji, Seungri and Yongbae standing next to me, ready for the opening. 2 minutes left… oh boy…

“You look nervous.” Dae whispers suddenly, loud enough so the others can hear as well.

“I am.” I admit while I nod once.

“Why?” Seungri asks.

“I… I don’t know.” I sigh, I really don’t know why, I just am. It’s like there a lot of weight falling off my shoulders, but I can’t make out if that’s a good thing or not. I’m probably not used to feeling safe and worriless anymore. In that way, this place also a safe place for us.

“That’s because there’s nothing to be nervous about, hyung.” Ji responds.

“Yeah, it’s a beautiful project we worked very hard on. Be proud!” Youngbae adds and Dae puts his hand on my shoulder.

“I know…” 1 minute left…

This is it, isn’t it? I am proud. We’ll do something useful here, something that matters. My heart is still beating like mad however. It’s the end of a chapter in my life, in our lives. A huge chapter. We’ve accomplished so much by almost losing everything. And I feel grateful, funny enough. Grateful that I’m free, healthy and that I’m able to help others now. But I feel empty as well, although I know that it’s just a temporary feeling. I need to let everything go and it scares me. Perhaps I should write this story down, it will make me feel better, I think. Others might learn from it as well.

There’s cheering outside and the governor walks towards the closed door, slowly. Dae’s hand is still on my shoulder and I can feel his heartbeat. It’s normal, like nothing is happening. He turns his head towards me and smiles. This is it.

And then the doors open.

 

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: wow, it’s finished… This story took me 3 years to write… okay, I feel very strange now…  
> First of all, I want to thank you for your support, comments, votes, polls,… I’m grateful and still surprised anyone likes this story. I initially wanted to write a very short story, based on the monster MV and a weird mind twist of mine. Oh well,… The story’s almost 100 pages long in Word (oops).  
> Secondly, if you like fanfiction but you’re not writing one, give it a thought. There’s never enough fanfiction. It’s a great hobby and it doesn’t matter if English isn’t your native language. I’ve learned a lot over the years, just by writing. So why won’t you give it a try?  
> I will continue writing, kpop fanfics and non-kpop fanfics (I’m on fanfiction.net, LJ, AO3, etc. as well). Mostly shorter stories I think (but I can never be sure, can I?)…  
> And I’m always here if you guys want to chat or something like that. o(^u^)o  
> See you!


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